Mention of football (soccer) trading cards often prompts thoughts of Topps trading cards from the 1970s. However, Topps are just one of many companies who have capitalised upon little boys (and girls) love of collecting trading cards for their favourite players. Some of the other companies that have blazed a trail for football cards and stickers include A&BC, Panini, and The Sun newspaper.
The history of trading cards actually goes back as far as the very early Twentieth century when baseball cards started to be offered alongside products such as bubble gum and tobacco in the United States. As their popularity took off it is no surprise that an increasing number of companies took notice of the potential of trading cards to boost product sales. It is also not surprising that the trend which had begun with American baseball players spread to include other sports such as American Football and Association football (soccer).
This article is specifically about soccer cards, with a focus on the cards that began to be offered in the UK. To begin with, here's a rundown on some of the main players whose names are most associated with soccer trading cards.
A&BC:
A&BC were one of the real trailblazers for English football trading cards. Formed in 1949, the company started producing football cards in the 1950s and continued throughout the 60s and up until 1975.
The popularity of trading cards was given a massive boost by England's success in hosting and winning the World Cup in 1966. The 1967/68 version of the cards featured ten of England's victorious starting line up from that World Cup final, the odd man out being Liverpool's Roger Hunt.
The A&BC cards were 8 cms long by 5.5 cms wide and really set the benchmark that all football cards would subsequently be judged against.
Topps:
By 1974, the Topps Company Inc had taken over A&BC and issued a set of football cards covering players from the English First and Second Divisions. Topps would eventually offer football cards covering seven seasons, from 1974/75 until 1981/82.
When I was getting into football in the late Seventies, Topps cards were all the rage. They came with chewing gum, though I'm sure I wasn't alone in throwing the gum away and only being interested in the wonderful cards that were contained within. The cards were approximately 9 cms long by 6.5 cms wide and tended mainly to feature players from the English (and sometimes Scottish) top division.
The front of the cards contained a photograph of the player, plus their name, club, and playing position. Then, on the reverse, there were details of how many appearances and goals they had from previous seasons, plus details of the player's height, weight, and where they were born. Additionally, the cards often contained general football trivia, covering the history of the game.
Here's a run down of the cards that they offered during this period:
1974/75: A set comprising of 220 cards with Grey/Red backs. Interestingly, Bobby Charlton is featured, though as a Preston North End player.
1975/76: A set of 330 cards with Blue/Grey backs. Once again, the players were taken from the English First and Second divisions. Kevin Keegan is featured as a Liverpool player.
1976/77: As with the previous year, there were 330 cards although this time they had a Red back. Card number 001 is George Best from his spell with Fulham. Best also features in a Northern Ireland strip as part of the Shoot / Goal All stars category and these are the only two times that George Best appeared on a Topps English Football card.
1977/78: The number of cards expanded again, this time to 396. The back of the cards were Orange this time. The Topps All*Stars category includes two players from Scottish teams, Danny McGrain (of Celtic) and Sandy Jardine (of Rangers).
1978/79: The set size remained at 396, and the cards had Blue backs. This was really the last of the great years of Topps cards, as after this the company moved to an inferior much smaller type of card. The set includes Rachid Harkouk of Q.P.R. who, in 1982, would become the first English-born player to represent an African nation (Algeria) in a World Cup tournament.
1980/81: After a one season hiatus, Topps returned in 1980 with a set of 198 cards. However, these were considerably smaller in size than previous years and, consequently, contained much less detail. Amongst the players making a first appearance on a Topps card was Terry Butcher who was part of a very strong Ipswich side that year.
1981/82: The final year of Topps football cards, so them persevere with the new smaller cards, and the set was comprised of 187 cards. The cards included a "Top Scorer" category, featuring the players who had been top scorer for their team the previous year. Included amongst these top scorers was young Norwich starlet, Justin Fashanu, and Middlesbrough's Yugoslavian international, Bosco Jankovic.
Sun Soccercards:
The Sun newspaper has done several issues of football cards over the years but none have matched the Sun Soccercards extravaganza that they launched during the 1978/79 season. These cards are small in size (6.5 cms long by 3.5 cms wide) but are delightfully quirky, given that they are all drawn rather than being photographs. The other nice thing about them is that they include lots of players from the lower leagues in England, whereas many cards over the years have focused solely or mainly upon the top division.
The Sun Soccercards split the players out into distinct categories, such as 'International stars', 'All time greats', 'defenders', 'midfielders', and 'strikers'. (Interestingly, the 'defenders' category includes goalkeepers.)
Panini:
As the reign of Topps cards came to an end, in the early 80s, Panini jumped into the breach. However, rather than producing the traditional football cards, Panini took another tack, providing football stickers can could be stuck to a football album.
Panini had actually started out in the 1960s in their Italian homeland but by the 70s had expanded to become an internationally renowned name. Their stickers were smaller than the A&BC and Topps cards but, nevertheless, were high quality and prompted the same schoolboy fervour that those earlier brands had inspired.
There are plenty of other brands that have played either a major or minor role in the history of football cards. The likes of Barratt, Nabisco, and FKS Publishers spring to mind but I'll leave you to explore the full range of cards that have ever been published! And football cards continue to be extremely popular today, with the Attax cards doing brisk business in newsagents shops the length and breadth of the UK.
Sources:
Special thanks to the Subbuteoni.co.uk and Nigel's Webspace websites for the wealth of trading card information that these excellent personal websites contain.
Subbuteoni.co.uk http://www.subbuteoni.co.uk/football_cards.htm
Nigel's webspace: http://cards.littleoak.com.au/index.html