Are You Ready For Some (More) Football?

Yep, still European Football. Sorry dudes. In the last post I mentioned that there were about 20 cards in this lot, and I was very wrong. It's actually probably closer to 40, and each one of them is just as interesting as they are old. In part one I showed you the oldest cards in the bunch, and some trophies, but neglected to show what the card backs look like. That is all about to change.

We'll once again start with the oldest cards, which were released by Ogden's Cigarettes. The backs of these cards are fairly plain, and sadly I chose the one with the least amount of text on the back to scan.
My favorite line here is "photos of general interest". These cards would have been released just as the Edwardian era was getting under way. This means nothing really, but I had to include a factoid of some sort, so there you have it.

Along with the Ogden's cards, and all of the trophy cards that were showcased in the last post, there were also a lot of individual player & team cards included in this lot. Let's take a look at some of the highlights, shall we?

This card was issued in 1936 by Mitchell's Cigarettes, and is card #31 in a series of 50. Not only is this card in excellent shape (the corners are sharper than most of my 80's Topps cards), it also features a player who was a major star of his era. Jimmy McGrory played for Celtic F.C. and still holds the record for the most career goals scored in the history of English football, with 550. To top it all off, he's also a Scotsman, which only makes me like him more.

If it weren't for the back of this card, I would have no idea who this dude is. Thankfully, I remembered to scan the back, and have included it below, so we all know that this is David Jack, the first player to ever score a goal at England's world famous Wembley Stadium.

David Jack was also the first player ever to have his rights sold to another club for more than 10,000 pounds, which I assume is about $4 American. If you still don't think Jack is the awesomest guy ever, perhaps I can change your mind by letting you know that his nickname was "Bone".

Along with the variety of cards that I've already shared with you, I also received about 20 cards produced by the same manufacturer, and that all appear to be from the same set. I had to do a little digging to figure out who released them, since the cards themselves only mentioned specific types of cigarettes produced by this brand, and not the actual brand itself. After a bit of digging around on the interwebs, I found out these cards were issued by Pattreiouex in 1935, and are from the "Sporting Events & Stars set which consisted of 96 cards, spanning multiple sports.

Here is a scan of what the card backs look like

Here is what the front looks like

This guy played for Man U, which automatically means he's a jaggoff.

The instant I uploaded this card, they started talking about that that John Goslin fellow on the news. I wonder if there's any relation? At least this guy was famous for actually doing something besides having a 24x7 hard on and bad hair. This image is great, and is probably my favorite action shot of the bunch.


Another great action shot. These cards are fairly simple by design, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and the old black & white photos are really cool.


Is it just me, or does that ball look humongous?


I figured this guy was important, since his card is the only one to feature a full first & last name. According to wikipedia, he really wasn't, although he did win the F.A. Cup the year this set was released.


This is the only card in the bunch not to include team information on the front. The back of this card reveals that George Eastham Sr. played ball for the Bolton Wanderers.


Geez, there sure are a lot of Man U players in this set.


Nice hair dude.

Along with the individual player cards from the Sporting Events & Stars set, I also received another trophy card, and several team cards. Let's start out with the trophy.

This cup is still awarded to the English champions, and according to wikipedia (not the most reliable source) teams from England, Wales & Scotland are the only ones eligible to compete for this cup. At the time this set was issued, Sheffield Wednesday were the current champions, as you will see briefly.

There it is, in all it's glory, the F.A. Cup


My current favorite team. It's all about van Persie!


Booooooo!


They roam around around around around


Running out of witty comments, I got nothin'

If you're still with me, I'd like to say thank you. This is an extremely long post, and it isn't even about baseball. I've got 2 more scans to show you, and both are card backs. Remember those Churchman's trophy cards from the last post? Here is what the backs look like.


From that same post, do you remember the Will's card that featured the action shot of the cup final at Wembley? Here is what the back of that card looks like.

I really dig the arch design. It looks almost Roman or Greek, but with a slight Egyptian flavor as well.

That pretty much sums up my foray into classic football tobacco cards. They're really cool, and much more affordable than baseball cards of the same era, so I may pick up some more. I've always thought it was really cool to own old things, and am slowly losing interest in most modern cards, so expect a healthy does of assorted vintage stuff from me this winter. If anyone from across the pond is reading this, and happens to be offended by my ignorance and lack of knowledge, I'd like to take this opportunity to set things straight. First off, it's called SOCCER! Football is played on Sundays. Secondly, my country whooped your sorry red behinds many moons ago so that I could be free to say whatever the hell I want, so you can just deal with it.

(I'm just joking Brits, don't get your teabags in a bind)