| Peter Upton's |
Subbuteo Tribute Website. |
While I've always regarded this era of Subbuteo as being full of poor value competition tie-ins, combined sets of older stuff, as well as lots and lots of balls,
there are some radical redesigns in here, such as the new look grandstand and floodlights. Some of the tie-ins are nice too. Check out the Italia '90 goals,
even if they are self-assembly (Grrrr). Note that for this era the promotional stuff has becomes global, so there are no English descriptions or product names for me to quote.
November 2001: I'm now aware of C200, so this page has had a name change!
Box types:- The first few accessories on this page arrived in the final Cxxx range, when the monochrome-logo box was current. However, only C204 was big enough to be boxed in this era. The 61xxx era began with the green-logo boxes. This colour existed from 1984-87, and 61207, 61208, 61213, and 61214 debuted in this colour. The arrival of the new grandstands coincided with a change of colour on the logos, and the rest of this page debuted in the red-logo box. For the Italia '90 accessories, the red-logo box was quite short-lived before the pitch-corner boxes arrived in 1990.
The Accessories.
C201: Two "Corner Kick" type goalkeepers.
An accessory to officially sanction the use of the oversized "corner kick" figures to take goal kicks. As with most versions of the spare goalkeeper (C106), the use of black shorts to make the figures appear more goalkeeper-like has been employed. 1983-86 was their short life span.
C202: Two "Throwing" spare goalkeepers.
C203: Two "Kicking" spare goalkeepers.
To use instead of C106, or even instead of C201 above. These were introduced in 1983 at a time when the excess items of the early 1980's were being cut back, and I remember being surprised to see new figures introduced. Both are completely new designs, and I believe the first Subbuteo figures to be holding small OO scale balls (okay, apart from the cricket bowler). However, while both looked cool on the 1983 poster, in reality, as the scans may show, the castings are messy, and lack the real fine detail which distinguished early models in the range. They are not exactly balanced correctly either. Neither of these were available by 1987, although the kicker was in the 1986 World Cup Edition, and I know that they lasted longer in Italy and Greece (perhaps it was just unsold stock). Amazing as it sounds, Subbuteo did actually put these goalkeepers onto rods - see accessory 61211 below...
Once again showing Subbuteo's impeccable timing when it comes to trophies, this finally appeared in 1983, just before English clubs were thrown out of European competition because of crowd violence. While it is fair to say that the actual European Cup is rather plain (although huge), I still think this is the poorest of all the Subbuteo trophy range. It doesn't even warrant a plinth. It hung around though, and by 1987 only the FA Cup remained to keep it company, although the Premiership trophy was added after this time.
The picture sizes are a bit all over the place here, but all four UK packs are illustrated.
C205: Three white Adidas Tango balls.
The first set of Tango balls, these had black print on white balls. See also 61209 and 61212. A nice straightforward ball, usually provided in a thick plastic. The set existed until 1995, and was also used in the France 98 box set, and the assorted ball pack of 1996 (61233)
C206: Team number transfers - Squad numbers.
With an increase in substitutes, away kits, and international squad numbers, this pack of number transfers up to 22, replaced C129, which was just 1-11. Probably produced to cover the limited edition world cup teams, which were produced as a full squad. I tended to use 1-11 for home kits and 12-22 for away kits so as not to waste them. They pre-date the premiership squad numbering system - if they produced numbers nowadays, they'd have to get into the thirties :-). The first poster appearance for these is 1984, when they already have a "61" number. However, when I pulled out a couple of old packs to scan, I noticed that one said "C206" on it, so this could be the last item to have a continental number. Appears in several of the later box sets, and was still in the 1995 range.
These goals were based on those used in the real 1984 European Championships. They had a quirky design, with full side supports from the crossbar to the back posts, but the net does not go that far. Instead it drops short, onto two hooks on the base, leaving a short rectangular goal. The attractive curved back supports make for a robust goal, but the nets were so narrow and tight that the ball would usually bounce out again, leading to many an argument or fight over whether it had gone in at all.
The goals lasted from 1984 to 1988, and their place in the range was taken by the Italia 90 goals (61219) in 1989, which were similar in design, but thankfully with deeper nets.
One advantage these goals did have were the huge screw holes in the bases. They must be the easiest Subbuteo goal to fix to a permanent board.
61208: Outside Broadcast Unit.
This was simply a set that combined the classic brown TV Tower (C110) with the more modern TV Unit figures (C156). This worked rather well, and ensured that the much loved TV Tower was sold to another generation of Subbuteo fans. Makes you wonder how many of these have been made down the years.... The set ran from 1985 to 1995
Box Types:- This was introduced into the Green-Logo era, and then existed in both the Red-Logo and Pitch-Corner boxes. The pitch corner box is a horizontal design, and is not as eye-catching. In addition, the tower comes unassembled in this version, and does not fit the box once assembled.
The later self-assembly version of the set has a sheet showing how to construct the tower.
Note the "table soccer" sub heading on both the above "red-logo" and "green-logo" boxes.
61209: Three orange "Espana" Adidas Tango balls.
These were the same design as C205 except that they were printed on a fluorescent orange football. Nice. The set arrived in 1986, and stayed in the range until 1995. The Tango balls (these and the white ones) were regarded by tournament players as the best balls produced, and were recommended by The Federation of International Sport Table Soccer.
Pack types:- As with most of the balls on this page - bubble pack in the late 1980s, useful small pitch-corner box in the 1990s. The card here shows "The football game" as a heading.
It has been pointed out that the orange tango can have the two different logos also seen on the yellow tango balls 61212 (below).
A set of white balls with Mitre and Delta logos. On one ball the logos are blue, on one red, and on the other black. So more good quality balls with nice clear logos. They existed alongside the orange and white Tangos from 1986 to 1995.
61211: Pack of assorted goalkeepers.
Thanks to Steffano Montecchiesi and Gordon Watt for providing me with the correct details for 61211. This was a rather strange set of assorted goalkeepers on rods. As you can tell from the illustration, the standard diving, and capped goalies would be useful, but I'm not sure a ordinary player makes a good crouching goalie, and as for trying to use the C202 throwing figure...oh dear me. The set was also available with the C203 kicking goalkeeper as the fourth figure, which is even more useless than the throwing one (who at least benefits from having some reach). Available from 1986 to 1988, this isn't the greatest Subbuteo accessory of all time :-)
61212: Three yellow "Alicante" Adidas Tango balls.
Where have you seen these before? These were another Tango ball, this time in a particularly lurid yellow colour. These balls do not have the same length of service as their white and orange brothers. They arrived in 1986, but departed in 1989 to make room for the Italia 90 balls - 61220.
I only know the name of these goals because I have a set and it is on the box. But why Mundial exactly? These goals were reminiscent of the Championship goal (C182) in that they have poles supporting the back of the net. However, these look a lot different once set up, as the net drops straight down from the poles whereas the Championship goal slopes sharply to the back corners. So the areas within the goal was bigger. These were a favoured choice of 1990s players, as the depth of the goal, and loose nets means shots are likely to stay in, saving a lot of arguments. The nets were either yellow or white, and they were sold 1986-93.
61214: Photographers, ball boys, and police.
A clean-up set of the "stand around the pitch" figures who were not included in 61208. The three combined sets are C104, C134, and C159. The 1980s boxes match the TV tower box in size, and this was really much bigger than it needed to be. although matching boxes looked nicer on the shelf. The box changed shape in the 1990s, but this did not really reduce its size. The set was sold from 1986 until 1995, when it was reissued with the bench set and camera men from 61208 added as 61239.
61215: Three Diadora Samba balls.
These were white balls printed with black triangles and Diadora and Samba logos. They look very effective. They arrived in the 1988 catalogue, filling what was an empty space in the 1987 version (just above Ronnie Whelan's head!). They only remain in the range until 1991, and the 1992 catalogue replaced them with 61223 Umbro Elite balls. This makes the Samba's a little more tricky to find than the other balls of this era (although luckily I picked a set up recently after a long search!)
61216: New Red and Blue Grandstand.
A major overhaul for the grandstand to give it a smart, sleek new look. Gone was the tan and green, and in came red and blue seating with grey trimmings. In the new design the lower tier was sat forward so the stand actually took up more floor/table space. However, there is actually less room for the crowd because the back half of the lower tier is lost behind semi-transparent plastic. Hey, I've just realized how modern this stand really is. It's bigger than ever, but there's less room for ordinary supporters because of all the corporate hospitality rooms :-).
This set arrived in 1988 and was originally issued with 25 unpainted supporters. Later this was increased to 50.
No major revision here, just a change of colour, which somehow really did make the old terraces look up-to-date. As a bonus, this set does include 25 unpainted supporters (from 61168). These terraces always looked white in the catalogues (as they do here), but in fact they are grey.
Box types:- The 1988-90 "red logo" box is shown along with the later pitch corner box which is more common.
It was obvious that the nicely designed corner piece didn't need altering for the new stadium, except for a colour change. Again in this new version, unpainted supporters were included.
Box types: Two boxes to look for. The red logo version from the 1980s is less common than the pitch corner version from the 1990s.
For previous World Cups, Subbuteo had been content with updating the scoreboard, or with putting the teams in different boxes (e.g. in 1982). The Italia '90 World Cup was the first time branded accessories were issued for a specific tournament. It was obviously a success, as it was repeated at USA '94, and Euro '96.
This first tie-in is another redesigned goal. It was a pretty striking design though, so I guess they were a worthy addition. Basically, these had the full side supports like 61207, but unlike that set, the nets go right over the top of the back supports creating a big goal area, and a soft landing for the ball. To give that Italia feel, the nets are the colours of the Italian flag - green, white and red. The set was introduced in 1989, and was available in both the "red logo" boxes of the late 1980s, and the "pitch corner" boxes of the 1990s. The USA 94 version replaced it in 1993.
61220: Three Italia '90 balls.
The second Italia '90 accessory, these were white balls with black harlequin spots a la C127, but to add Italia flavour they had extra green and red spots half hidden behind the black ones. A charming set. There were two variations of this ball. The original Italia '90 ball, released in both a bubble pack and a box, had the Italia '90 mascot and logo printed between the spots. This was dropped on later editions (once the World Cup was over I suppose). The set was in the catalogues from 1989 to 1992 - and the USA 94 balls logically replaced it at that point.
This was the third of the Italia '90 sets, and must rank as the most expensive tie-in produced (not counting full sets of course). Although special goal and ball sets were produced for subsequent tournaments, this was the only special pitch outside of the box sets. (The Premiership and Man Utd sets both have special pitches).
The item was illustrated in the earlier of the two small brochures issued with teams and accessories in the 1990s. This illustration showed the pitch as a standard nylon affair (and also incorrectly quoted the number 61211). However, the version I own is a fine quality felt pitch. At first sight, this resembles a 1970s pitch, but it is really a different surface again. I think it is just a large sheet of felt.
Okay, it's time to click the appropriate option to continue your tour of the Subbuteo accessory range.