I still have hand painted subbuteo teams from the early 70s. For some reason I thought they'd look better with glossy shirts
.
I never had Subuteo as a child, I had a football game called Striker for which you pressed the players' heads down which activated a kicking action of the leg.
As with all those games all the players from both teams looked exactly the same apart from the different coloured shirts. Same face, same hair colour and same moulded side parted hairstyle. I strongly felt that the players should be given their own individual identities so I set about painting each one (five a side).
From the original black painted side parted hair some I made blonde, some brunette, some ginger, some were given Jason King moustaches, some beards, some were made bald with carefully painted comb over wispy strands Ralph Coates style, but the one I was most proud of was the one I made black complete with goatee beard.
This was in the days (early 70s) when there were hardly any black players, the most high profile of whom was West Ham's Clyde Best. Racial diversity was clearly quite important to me even as a nine year old in the early 70s.
As with your Subuteo all my art work was naturally executed in high gloss enamel paint and looked all the better for it.
Last edited: