Strikerwas also sold in Italy, and was wonderfully entitled "Goleador Derby". This set was produced by Harbert, who were one of Italy's big game companies. Here the usual Striker font has changed giving the box a different look. However, the kids are the same as the standard striker set (I love the tie of the kid who dressed up for the shoot!). However, I am not convinced that this is exactly the same shot as the English one. The goalkeeping kid in the mustard shirt seems to have changed position, and the kid in the right seems to have advanced his defender slightly. I'm sure I should have better things to do than squint at Striker box lids, but there you go.

Thanks to Carlo De Gennaro for enlightening me with this one :-)

But we are not finished yet with Goleador Derby, as this later version with the moulded pitch has also been sighted. These are the kids from the Wembley Fast-Pitch striker box, but cut out and placed on an unnatural blue background.

Spain - Chuta-Gol.

If you learn anything from this page, it is that giving your football game a weird non-specific name like "Subbuteo" has a big advantage when it comes to international recognition. Here was striker in Spain, struggling under the title "Futbol Chuta-Gol". Otherwise, this is the standard early striker edition, and the kids are in their usual UK positions, which means you can compare the photo with the slightly different Goleador Derby one above if you feel the need to.

USA - Kyle Rote Jr Soccer Game.

Although the keen 1970s kids remain, this is a very different look for Striker. This version seems to stem from the fruitful Palitoy/Kenner partnership of this era. Palitoy marketed Kenner's Star Wars toy range in the UK, whilst Kenner took Striker to the USA. Sounds like a fair swap to me.

Although there are similar Striker components in this set (the goalkeepers and rods) other parts of the set are very different. In these enlarged pictures from the box lid you can see that the fence surround is completely different to any of the UK versions, and that the goals are absolutely tiny (more like ice hockey nets than anything else). Although the box lid showed standard Striker figures, the American set actually had a completely different player figure (see below for details).

And Kyle Rote Jr? He was one of the few home-grown stars of the North American Soccer League in the 1970s. The son of an American Football star, Rote was a prolific striker for Dallas Tornado. He is on the front of the box in the lovely (....) blue and orange Tornado kit. He was also famed for winning the Superstars TV programme in the US.

Alternate Figures: Some international editions of the game also had different castings. The player on the left is from a goleador set. The body is identical to the UK version, but the head is different. I'm not sure why. Perhaps the Italians don't like side-burns. The player in the hoops, is from the Kyle Rote set. This is a much bigger figure, and  benefits from having fully rounded legs. It also has a square neck, and a hint of likeness to Kyle Rote himself. The kit also seems to represent Dallas Tornado, although the hoops are yellow here, rather than orange.

[  Main Page  |  Previous Page  ]