Flick to Kick

Subbuteo Table Soccer, the 'replica of Association Football', grew out of the 1920's game 'New Footy'. Developed by Peter Adolph in 1947 (chalk pitches were drawn out on old Army blankets), the heyday of the game was in the 1960s and 1970s when more than 300,000 miniature teams were sold each year. By 1980 Subbuteo Rugby Sevens, Cricket and Hockey 'for girls' were in existence, and Peter Adolph was convinced he could more or less 'Subbuteoize' almost any aspect of real life: hence replica Subbuteo models of the Beatles came to pass and Subbuteo Moon Landings were investigated. The comparative failures of Subbuteo 'Snooker Express' and Subbuteo Angling to take off in the eighties, the increased involvement of black players in the (real) game and the rapid changing of club strips all posed individual problems for the manufacturers, and, despite heroic attempts to keep up with the changing game, Waddington's sold Subbuteo to the American toy giant Hasbro in the mid-nineties. Fans feared this was the end and in 2000 Hasbro duly caused national outrage by annnouncing plans to cease production.
Retrospectively (a la Heinz Salad Cream) this has been viewed as a cynical attempt to boost flagging sales and secure some free advertising space. Today, over 300,000 games are sold worldwide, 70,000 of those in the UK. The book will be illustrated (approx 150 photographs) in full colour, and will feature approximately 30,000 words.