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Peter Upton's

Subbuteo Tribute Website.

Table Rugby

Team Colours.

The first selection of rugby teams were produced alongside the first box set in 1969, and the range continued in the Subbuteo catalogues until 1981 (the rugby game was dropped in 1982). However, in all this time I don't think they were ever illustrated. Instead, Subbuteo produced a list of descriptions of the teams, as they had done with football teams until the early 1970s. Like those early football descriptions, no sock colour was quoted for rugby teams. On the whole, the socks do appear to be reasonably constant, although there are some variations. For instance, R3 France/Scotland usually has white socks with blue tops, but I also own it with all blue.

The Original Team Releases R1-R26

On the very first accessory list, there are only 25 teams, but this was very quickly increased by one to 26. These teams came on a unique one-piece base with "hollows" to allow the ball to be balanced for lineouts. These bases were possibly designed for Peter Adolph's abortive Newfooty game, designed circa 1968, about a year before the rugby was released. Bases embossed with Newfooty have been seen (see above), although the final Subbuteo issue ones are unmarked. Although the original 1969 rule book shows the classic heavyweight figure (and indeed, these were in the named Newfooty bases), the original issues of rugby editions and teams are all with the unique chunky rugby figure. These became a less common sight in rugby sets as the 1970s progressed, and heavyweight rugby team sets were more frequently issued.

It has been suggested that the rugby player type was actually the second generation 3-D figure from Newfooty, and certainly it appeared in Subbuteo football sets a couple of years before the arrival of the rugby game. See the New Footy Tribute for more details. Although the chunky look of the players might be more appropriate for the rugby game, a look at the casting clearly shows v-necks and short sleeves, which were never painted as such in rugby sides.

The rugby base was apparently produced in the following colours:- white, black, yellow, green, blue, red, maroon and light blue. There was also a very limited number of brown bases for refs 24 and 29, but good luck finding these. Maroon seems an odd colour for rugby bases too, and I've never seen one. The light blue bases were lacking from the Italian stock released into collecting circles in the 2000s, but have been spotted on various sides in the wild. Cardiff and the barbarians are the obvious "light blue" sides, but R24 Hunslet also uses this colour on older "English" stock. Plymouth Albion appears on red in the Italian stock, but is more commonly seen on green in second-hand stock.

The Chiddingstone Causeway releases.

The team range remained unchanged until 1978, when Subbuteo suddenly increased the number of teams to 37, and also altered three of the original references. This coincided with a change of address for the company (to Chiddingstone Causeway, Tonbridge), and a slight overhaul of the rugby game (some accessories were dropped, and the rule book re-issued). The original 26 teams are quite easy to collect (at least in rugby figures), but these final ones are much rarer. All the later releases are rugby league teams, which suggests that the game was more popular in the north of England.

I have been quoted 1975 as the date that production of the original one-piece base ceased, although the stock ran on into the 1978 releases. It would make sense that the rugby figure also ceased around this time. The final teams to be sold switched from heavyweight to lightweight figure alongside the football - so probably from 1980 onwards. Again, lightweight teams are pretty scarce, at least outside of the international teams (R1-R6), which always seem to have been the best sellers. There remain rumours of zombie rugby teams, and indeed, the machine-printed red/white and blue/white zombies make an appearance in box sets of the late 1970s, but I have still yet to see a boxed side. Although Paul Lloyd has stated that all the UK teams were produced in all four different player types, I've yet to see any of the 1978 releases in the original rugby figure, and surely some zombie teams would have crept out of the woodwork by now?

In addition to the UK catalogued sides, there was a "named box" release of nine teams to the Italian market. These sides were only done in the heavyweight figure, but still had the proper rugby bases.

For this page I have used the catalogue descriptions, but I've also illustrated as many of the teams as possible. This task was made easier by the appearance in collecting circles of old warehouse stock of the original 26 teams and the Italian sides. These teams surfaced in Italy, and have been made available to collectors via ebay and various websites. I've also had the kind co-operation of zeugo.co.uk and Pete Whitehead at Subbuteoworld (pictures with green backgrounds). 

The page has a full list illustrated with classic rugby and heavyweight figures. It then looks at the Italian sides, and finishes with a lightweight appendix, which shows some of the teams that are in the community. If any proper zombie teams turn up, they will also be posted here.

July 2004: A big thank you to Paul Lloyd for lending his expertise for the update to this page. 


Rugby Team Colours.

2021: I have now illustrated all the original R1-R26 rugby sides using their original "chunky" figures, but also added as many heavyweight versions as I can, as well as some variations to look out for.

Hair/boot colour. There seems to be more variation in rugby teams, as I have numerous examples within my own collection. It is worth pointing out that the R3 Scotland usually has brown hair as a heavyweight, and R6 Wales has black. This is in complete contrast to refs 1 and 2 in football.

Code

Teams

Shirts

Shorts

R1

Australia, Bramley

Amber or gold

Black

R2

England, Swansea

White

White

R3

France, Scotland

Blue

White

R4

Ireland, South Africa

Green

White

R5

New Zealand, Wasps

Black

Black

R6

Wales, Salford

Red

White

R7

Barbarians

Light and dark blue hoops

White

R8

Blackheath

Red and black hoops

White

R9

Bradford Northern

White with red/amber/black hoops

White

R10

Halifax, North Shields, Bristol, Widnes

Blue and white hoops

White

Code

Teams

Shirts

Shorts

R11

Castleford

Yellow with black collar and cuffs

White

R12

Hull Kingston Rovers

White with red band

White

R13

Leigh, Oldham, Batley, Wigan

Red and white hoops

White

R14

Newport

Black and amber hoops

White

R15

Plymouth Albion

White with red and green bands

White

R16

St. Helens

White with red "V"

White

R17

Wakefield Trinity

White with red and blue bands

White

R18

Workington Town

White with blue band

White

R19

Cardiff

Sky blue and navy blue hoops

A) White

      B) Black

R20

Leeds

Blue with amber bands

White

   
Code Teams Shirts Shorts

R21

Huddersfield

Claret and gold (or amber) hoops

White

R22

Dewsbury, Sunderland, Harrogate

Red, amber and black hoops

White

R23

Sale, Sheffield, Featherstone (later 32)

Blue and white hoops

Blue

R24

Hunslet

A) White with chocolate chest band

Blue

 

B) Green with white collar and "V"

White

R25

Rochdale Hornets

A) Red/white hoops on blue

White

 

B) white with amber/blue/amber chestbands

White

R26

Doncaster, Warrington (later R34)

White with yellow and blue bands

White

R27-R37. Produced 1978-82

Code TeamsShirts Shorts Socks

R27

Huyton

A) Amber with large black and red "V"

Black

Black w/red and amber tops
   B) Black with red collar and cuffs ** White Black

R28

Keighley

White with large red and green "V"

White

White w/red and green tops

R29

Whitehaven

White with chocolate brown/blue/amber chestbands

White

White w/brown and blue tops

R30

Blackpool Borough

Black with white collar and large amber "V"

Black

Black with amber tops

R31

Barrow

Blue with white collar and large white "V"

White

Blue

R32

Featherstone Rovers

Black and white hoops

Black

White with black tops

R33

Swinton

Blue with white collar and large white "V"

White

White with blue tops

R34

Warrington
(later Northampton)

Dark green with amber collar

Dark green

Amber with dark green tops

R35

York

Amber and black hoops

Black

Black with amber tops

R36

Hull

Black and white hoops

White

Black

R37

Widnes

White

Black

Black

The teams above were introduced in 1978, along with the B) versions of R19, R24 and R25, and all are rugby league sides. They may have been produced in all four alternate player types (rugby, h/w, l/w and zombie), but they are pretty rare, and I have only seen them as heavyweights or lightweights thus far. It is possible that the stock of rugby figures had been exhausted before these teams were produced.

Italian Teams.

Code

Team

Shirts

Shorts

I01

Parma Yellow/blue hoopsBlue

I02

Italia Blue with white trimWhite

I03

Roma Green/black/white hoopsWhite

I04

Rovigo  Dark red/blue stripesBlue

I05

L'Aquila  Green with black trimGreen

I06

Petrarca Padova  Black with white trimBlack

I07

Milano Black/white hoopsWhite

I08

CUS Genova Red/white hoopsWhite

I09

Fiamme  Oro Padova
Important military team of Guardia di Finanza (Italian Police).

Red

White

 

Subbuteo always had a large market in Italy, and as the football game has the C100s range, which was produced especially for the Italian market, so rugby gains these nine sides. These were never offered in Subbuteo's catalogues in Britain, and once again we have Edilio Parodi to thank for production of these teams. They were probably done as a small "request" range, so there seem to be no great variations in them. They were only produced in the heavyweight footballer figure (in rugby bases), and were sold in standard rugby boxes with the name of the team printed onto the end. Usually this is just stamped on, although Roma is mostly on a sticky label like the football World Cup sides. The stamped names are often misprinted (eg Rovigo has Rovigi on the box), which suggests that they were stamped at the UK factory, rather than by Parodi.
December 2001 - Thanks to Antonio Aloisi, from Subbuteo Club Adriatico Pescara Italy, who has corrected the names of some of the teams, and supplied further details. He pointed out that Rovigo should be playing in red and blue hoops, rather than the stripes. So the only striped rugby team on the whole page is incorrect :-)
February 2003 - I've updated the illustration, as my original still had my own inaccurate team names. As there wasn't really room for the names anymore, I've numbered the teams as they have been numbered on the sales pages of other sites as this seems to be the established norm, although the Italian catalogue never numbered them.
April 2004 - I've now seen the 1982-83 Italian catalogue which features these sides. In this Rovigo shirts are described as "Rosso-blue a strisce orizzontali", meaning that they were supposed to be painted with hoops rather than the stripes.

Lightweight Appendix.

As mentioned in the introduction, lightweight rugby teams are a bit thin on the ground. However, I thought it would be fun to show the ones spotted by collectors and sent to me.

That seems to be it for the rugby range. Next Page will take you to the cricket pages, or choose another option from those below.


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