The subject of today`s card, "Jackie" Kyle, was born John Wilson Kyle, in Belfast, on the 10th of February, 1926. And why he is here is because he led Ireland to not just a victory but a grand slam in the 1948 Five Nations Championship, during which Ireland beat every team it played against.
Now there is a curious fact here, because why the event was called the Five Nations was because France had joined in - in 1910. However in 1931 it was discovered that some of the French players had been paid for playing, not in the championship, but with their home teams, and this led to France being banned from the Five Nations event. Because of this it again returned to being the Home Nations Championships again. They were given an eight year suspension, which ought to have seen them return in 1940, but the event was cancelled for the duration of the Second World War and did not start again until 1947.
Returning to Mr. Kyle, he not only represented his country, he was part of the British and Irish Lions, and the Barbarians. And in 1950 the New Zeland Rugby Almanac declared him one of just six Players of the Year. More than that, in 2002, he was stated, by none other than the Irish Rugby Football Union, to be the Greatest Ever Irish Rugby Player.
One thing that many people do not know is that he not only trained to be a doctor, in Belfast, at Queen`s University, which was where he first played rugby - but that after his retirement from club rugby in 1963, he was heavily involved with humanitarian work in Indonesia and Sumatra, and was even a consultant surgeon in Africa, for over thirty years. Then he returned to Ireland, and died in November 2014, aged eighty-eight.
Despite all these things, it appears that apart from this card, Mr. Kyle seems to have only featured on one other, and that was as part of the 1968 set of "International Rugby Greats 1948-1968", generally regarded to have been issued in 1968 by Playtime Gum. However that was not an issuer, it was just a brand - circulated in New Zealand by Allen & Regina, of Oamaru, New Zealand, which, according to my original Australian and New Zealand Index, part one, was "89 x 63. Grey-black, blue and orange framework. Back with sectional picture, some sections with parts of red overprint of Scanlen`s "Twin" trade mark. Nd. (?40). We now know that there are indeed forty cards, and the sectional picture makes up to a rather frenetic rugby scene in black and white. As for Allens & Regina, that was formed in 1970 to distribute gum cards issued by Scanlens, Donruss, Topps, and A. & B.C. Gum - though sadly this arrangement came too late for them to handle our set !
Back to our card, as you may be wondering why it is plain backed. The answer is that it was designed to be stuck in an album, above the text which was printed there. Thanks to one of our readers, Mr. Coates, we know know that text actually read : "(Irish Rugby Captain) Match Winner of the / outstanding post-war Irish International Rugby / team, Jack is reputed to be the `greatest out- / half of all time`. He is a magnificent oppor- / tunist and tactician in attack, and safe in defence. / He has won many International Rugby caps for / his country since 1947.
We still have a query remaining though, and that is can anyone can explain why the album is reputedly available in two formats - with blue pages or with grey ones - was one of these a second edition, when stocks ran out?
Anyway, the album was advertised on the packets, with the offer to "Send 1/- and only 5 coupons for your super giant 20 page album containing a full history of all the sportsmen and sports women in this series". The coupons were part of the waxed packet, and had to be cut out, which is why the wrappers are now so scarce - but you can see one for yourself at TCDB/AllSport/packet. And whilst there they also list all the cards in the set - at TCDB/All Sport/Lists. Before we walk away from the packets, they raise an interesting fact, as this means they must be from the very early second stage of the A & B.C. Gum issues, as their first cards were actually sold from vending machines, you inserted your coinage and out came a ball of gum from one slot, and a card from the other. Now we know that the vending machines were still operational in the 1960s, but this set, with its packet, with cards and the gum, pre-packaged, was issued in 1954. So it looks like this set may have been part of a trial run of getting shops to stock cards in packets.
Now to the card chat. This set first appears in our original British Trade Index part II, published in 1969. The entry starts with a short piece about the company, which reads :
A. & B. C.
American & British Chewing Gum Ltd. Subsidiary of Topps (U.S.A.), many series by A. & B. C. are similar to or based on Topps issues in U.S.A. Cards issued 1953-68. See Anonymous Sets ZB10-2, ZG4-11, ZG9-1, ZJ8-7.2, ZJ9-1, ZJ9-4, ZJ9-13, ZJ11 sets, ZJ12-1, ZJ12-3, ZJ12-4, ZJ12-7, ZT7-1.1
- "ALL SPORTS" SERIES. Md. 76 x 47. Black. Nd. (120). Album issued. ... ABF-1
The British Trade Index was a part work, of four parts, and in the year 2000 it was updated, and re-published as a single volume, plus a handbook, to which lists of cards were removed. The listing for our set and also the header about the company does vary, and the full text is
A. & B. C.
American & British Chewing Gum Ltd. Subsidiary of Topps (U.S.A.), many series being similar to, or based on, Topps issues in U.S.A. Issued 1953-75. Includes U.K. brand issues of Bubbles Inc., Brooklyn, U.S.A., and brand issue "T.C.G." Some `stickers` set details are omitted, for example Hip Patches (200), Military Silk Stickers (215) and Tattoos (number unknown). These are of different shapes and sizes, many without caption.
- "ALL SPORT" SERIES. 1954. 76 x 47. Nd. (120). Black. Album issued. Cards a) glossy, b) matt ... AAB-020
Before I move along, there are a few things from these listing that need to be discussed.
Firstly, there is no basis to the initials standing for American & British Chewing Gum, though it appears in both these works; it is a bit of an urban myth, though, with the Topps connection, and the American nature of many of the cards, it is easy to see how collectors heard it and believed it to be so. The truth is that it was named for the initials of four men, Simon Aynsz, Rudy Braun, and Douglas and Tony Coakley, whose wartime service had come to an end. They started out by planning to call it "A.B.C.", but there were lots of companies using those initials, so they simply inserted the ampersand.
Secondly, and I have checked, the name of this set is indeed entered wrongly in our original British Trade Index part II, as "All Sports" Series - as the cards do say "All Sport", in the singular.