Here we have Alan Ball, who started at Blackpool in September 1961 as an apprentice, having been turned down by Bolton and Wolverhampton Wanderers, both of whom said he was too small, though curiously he had been connected with, and played for Wolverhampton Wanderers junior team whilst at school. Bolton Wanderers was his second choice. He then managed to get a slot at Blackpool, through a friend of his father`s.
He is chiefly remembered now for being in the 1966 World Cup, and perhaps for being the youngest member of the squad, aged just 21. After that , he left Blackpool in 1966 and was signed by Everton, in whose strip he appears here.
After his playing career was over he went into coaching, and managed several teams. He died, of a heart attack, in 2007.
The curious coincidence with this card was that I planned to give you Ginger Cat Appreciation Week, and as Alan Ball had ginger hair, he was card one in the theme. However after I had put him in the media gallery and started looking for ginger cat cards I realised one card of a ginger cat was only possible if I counted an obscure reference to one on the reverse of a card. So I hunted, quickly, for another theme. Blackpool seemed to be a bit more reasonable to source cards from, but imagine my surprise when Alan Ball turned out to be connected with Blackpool too....
Our original British Trade Index part II tells us that this set is from the "Footballers Grouping" which appears in full with the Card of the Day for October 19 2024, simply because that was the first football set ever to be issued by A & B.C. Gum, in 1958-1959. All the other sets are tackled like today`s, in as much as they simply repeat their section of the listing, and not how it interacts with the other sets.
So today`s card is listed as :
FOOTBALLERS GROUPING (A). Md. or Lg. 8 backs illustrated at Fig. ABF-10. Nd. ... ABF-10
9. Portrait in rectangle with rounded corners, white border team name in pennant at base. Back in yellow. 81 x 55. (101)
1. Nos. 1/54. No. 1 is unnumbered team picture of West Bromwich Albion, back "Football Check List". Anonymous team pennants, see set ZJ12-8.1, were issued with this section.
2. Nos.55/101. No. 55 is unnumbered team picture of Manchester City, back "Football Check List". Anonymous Metalised Team Emblems, see Set ZJ12-8.2 were issued with this section
Before we race ahead, there is a curious anomaly with the base set, and that is that you can find the cards with or without a football logo in the banner which holds the player`s name, and in just one instance, shown at the Trading Card Database/Joe Baker you can find that one card with and without the logo. Unless anyone out there knows of another card which has both? You can also find a checklist of the set at the Trading Card Database/1968 - as well as a really curious item, the original negatives.
Now as far as the first part of this set, numbered 1/54, that appears as our Card of the Day for the 2nd of September, 2023 - however, as the anonymous extras are specific to one part of the set only they are tackled in detail on each page, so here we only have the metalised team emblems. That entry reads :
We know that the packets for this set cost 3d. and the emblems are advertised on the front thereof. However it does not say how many cards you got.