Here we have, of course, the famous goalkeeper`s jumper. This is always a different colour to the rest of the team so that he can be seen more easily by the teams and by the officials. It also has long sleeves, which are padded now, but do not seem to have been so then. They help to protect his arms when he catches or deflects the ball, and the friction of the material also helps to deflect the ball away from the goal, rather than allowing it to slide down his skin. And at this time of year the goalkeeper might not do a lot of running about, but the long sleeves and padding make him the warmest one on the field, bear this in mind when you are playing with your pals and picking your position!
This set has an adhesive back, and special albums were issued. Most excitingly, rather than showing prominent footballers, these cards show you how to play the game.
The RB.21 reference is very interesting, because it tells us that John Player were not the only company to issue this card.
The A version, of course, is this one.
The B. version was issued in China through British American Tobacco; it has Chinese lettering explaining the game, and even more excitingly they redrew the characters, giving them Oriental features. These were issued in the same year, 1934, but there are only 48 cards. Our card is still number 7. Anyone know what the two missing Chinese cards are?
The C, version is split into two sets
C1 cards have backs in Spanish. The title is also changed, to "La Technica del Foot-ball". However it was not issued in Spain. but in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by Compania Naciona de Tabacos and Compania Nobleza de Tabacos. It appears to be only the first twenty-five of the John Player cards.
C2 is anonymous, but is also thought to have been issued by Cia Naciona de Tabacos. Once more the back is in Spanish, and the title "La Technica del Foot-ball". Their first sighting was of cards only numbered 26-50, so though they were listed under the anonymous section of the World Tobacco Issues Index they were presumed to be the second half of the same set. However we have since found all the cards appear in an anonymous version. Perhaps all the cards are found in the Cia Naciona de Tabacos set as well, but we just have not found them.