So here we have clue number one to this week`s theme - and, depending on which way you approach it, this could be the beginning or the end.
This was a bit of a stretch for our theme, but this Chinese set was just supposed to suggest Asia, though technically The People's Republic of China is in East Asia, not South. However it is pretty massive, spanning five time zones and having almost 1.5 billion inhabitants. So it is easy to see why when asked to name an Asian country most people would pick China first.
And why we said "depending on which way you approach it, this could be the beginning or the end" was because the regions we are going to deal with pretty much fall in between India and China.
Now in RB.21, our British-American Tobacco Company booklet, published in 1952, this set is listed as
217-112. HINTS ON ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL. The series was issued as follows :-
A. Player Home issue. Size 68 x 36 m/m. Series of 50
B. Anonymous issue, with Chinese language back. Size 62 x 36 m/m. Subjects redrawn with Chinese players demonstrating. Series of 48. Back in grey, "Y" at left base.
C. Spanish language issues, titled "La Tecnica del Foot-Ball." Size 68 m/m. Subjects redrawn.
1. Cia. Nacional de Tabacos issue. Nos. 1-25 seen
2. Anonymous issue, with Spanish language back. Nos. 26-50 seen.
That leads to the obvious question of which two cards were deleted from the set of fifty issued by John Player - does anyone know?
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, just four years later, our anonymous issue, whilst still appearing in the back of the book, is now in a section that states "All issued through B.A.T." The listing here is :
HINTS ON ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL (A). Sm. 62 x 36. Back with letter "Y" at left base. Nd. (48). See RB.17/217-112.B