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.
Now you may be wondering why this card is plain backed, and the answer is that it was designed to be stuck in an album, above the text which was printed there. So if anyone has the album, stuck in or not, can please they supply us with the text that appears for this card so we may enter it here. The album was advertised on the packets, as "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.
All the cards are listed at the Trading Card Database/All Sports - and they also show the packet
This set first appears in our original British Trade Index part II, published in 1969, where it is, strangely, the first set in the book. The entry reads :
"ALL SPORTS" SERIES. Md. 76 x 47. Black. Nd. (120). Album issued. ... ABF-1
Now in our updated British Trade Index, which was a single volume, plus an accompanying handbook to match, our set is no longer first, having been ousted by A-1 Biscuit Co. Ltd of London, A-1 Dairies Ltd. (of Whetstone, North London), and A-1 Dollisdale (which I cannot locate).
The entry for our set reads :
"ALL SPORT" SERIES. 1954. 76 x 47. Nd. (120). Black. Album issued. Cards (a) glossy (b) matt ... AAB-020
If you spotted what I did, I have checked and the card does say "ALL SPORT", in the singular, so I will have to check up later tonight on whether the plural is my error or it appears wrongly in our British Trade Index part II.