Who is Ready for Some Football (cards) !

What happens when you mix a few bottles of Deschutes Jubelale, eBay, and a low price? (you have to  wait for a few sentences)

Well you pick up a couple of inexpensive lots of English and Scottish Football Cards-bet ya were thinking American Football? In 1975 Topps took over the British card producer A&BC Gum and jumped in to the British football card market in 1975/76 with cards manufactured in the United States.

You will notice they resemble a certain baseball issue. Topps produced two different sets in 1975/76-one for English First and Second Division teams, and one for the Scottish Premier League-this would be true for the next few seasons. The English set consisted of 222 cards of players from 30 different teams plus the national teams of England, Scotland, and Wales. This set is nicknamed "Red Backs" and printed on grey stock with standard bio and stats on the reverse with the posed portrait on the front. I think these are attractive cards. The Scottish Premier League Topps' cards contained 17 of the 18 Premier League teams and apart form these being Scottish teams the only difference is the blue backs which gives them the obvious  nickname of " Blue Backs".

The Topps' 1976/77 issue was the last printed in the U.S of A. As with the previous year there was two issues. One for the English football league and one for the Scottish Premier League. The English set had 330 cards and the reverse was a blue/grey color. The Scottish issue was 132 cards and had red backs and thus their nickname as the year before was "Red Backs" and the English were "Blue Backs. The design of this issue did not resemble a United States sports issue and sported an attractive reverse that reminds me of U.S football and OPC/Topps' hockey cards.

Production was moved to the Republic of Ireland for the 1977/78 and following issues. Topps returned to a familiar design for the fronts of the cards. I am a fan of the 1975 baseball card issue and now a fan of the 1977/78 British football sets. Again there would be two distinct issues for England and Scotland. The English set was 330 cards for the second consecutive year. The fronts strongly resemble the baseball version but the reverses are very distinct. For the English the traditional "Red Backs" and the Scottish cards were given a yellow back and hence their nickname the "Yellow Backs". The Scottish issue also contained 132 cards as did the previous year and the following year. Again I am a fan of the reverse as well-the design, the cartoon, and factoids. Well done.

The 1978/79 English issue would expand to 396 cards and the Scottish remained 132. The fronts strongly resemble American Football set of 1977. The reverses of course don't and instead of the red backs the English had a orange back, and you guessed their nickname in "Orange Backs". The Scottish issue would be the "Green Backs".

The 1979/80 issue would be the last for separate issues for England and Scotland. As I wrote last month, I am not a fan of the 1978 Topps Football issue and thus not such a huge fan of these sets. The fronts are like the 1978 Topps but the backs remained distinctive. For the English 396 card issue they would be referred to as the "Pale Blue backs" and the Scottish 132 card set would be referred to as the  "Red Backs".

Topps would go on to issue two more Football sets in the UK, the Footballer 1981 set was 198 in number but issued in strips of three like the Topps U.S Basketball issue of 1980. These are called strip cards and "Pink Backs", and the following year's issue of Topps' 198 strip cards are known and "Blue Backs".

This marked the end of Topps efforts in the UK until the modern era. OK, now how does a few Jubelales and eBay fit in?

Well, I picked up these-one lot is in really solid condition, the other not so. The first lot was for 32 low grade 1977/78 "Red Backs" AKA English Football cards. But for $1 plus $2 for shipping-more for the heck of it. No Honey I am not trying to complete these sets.

The other was for 11 1979 Scottish "Red Backs" for about the cost of a pint of ale.

For this post I utilized the fantastic Nigel's Webspace - Galleries of English and Scottish Football Cards - 1965/66 to 1979/80. If you think the above cards are interesting get a load these A&BC Chewing Gum issues from Nigel's Webspace-1959/60 and the 1960/61-the reverse of the 1959/60, the fronts of the 1960/61 A&BC and the 1962/63 Footballer Bazooka, and the 1973/74 Crinkle-Cuts. Remind you of other issues? There were Scottish "Green backs" for 1963/64

Oh yeah, the 1958 Topps' Football, 1959 Topps' Baseball, 1958 Topps Football, and  1969 Topps' Baseball Deckles-respectively.

But it gets better get a load of the 1963/64 Footballer Make-a-Photo, and a A&BC Gum Scottish 1964/65-this all makes sense since A&BC Gum and Topps had a strong relationship going back to the mid-to late 50s. Also, producing non-sports card under license, etc.

A  last bit of fun and to wrap it all up-1972/72 A&BC Gum Football Game