Here we have Bobby Moore, one of our best loved England team players, and that, along with the title of the set, provided us with the word "International"
J. Lyons had their fingers in many pies, tea, cocoa, and ice cream, which was how this set was issued - with Lyons Maid. However it does seem that the ice cream was in fact ice lollies. This is backed up by the wrappers, which show the details of some of the special offers that the coupons off the cards would entitle you to. It also seems that the cards were not packed inside of the lolly wrappers, but handed out at the shops, or off the ice cream trucks, after you had made your purchase.
Now these cards were the follow up to another Lyons Maid set "Soccer Stars", which had been issued the year before. However our cards were not so popular at the time, for some reason, and you could still find them being given out well into 1972. It was also the last football set that Lyons issued with ice lollies.
We do not know why they were less well received, but there are lots of theories, including the truth that in those days you seldom saw the international matches, Sky television only started in 1989, and not long afterwards, the internet, but as dial up, and a rarity in people`s homes. Whereas today we can watch as many international games as we can home grown ones.
Now because of this, some cards are quite sought after, especially overseas, where few ever filtered across. Top of the list is Johann Cruyff of Holland (card 18) and Eusebio of Portugal (card 28), who can each sell for getting on for £20, though in their home countries, amongst local fans, this is often far exceeded. Just below that is our card of Bobby Moore, plus George Best (card 25) and Bobby Charlton (card 13) which are usually about £10 each.
The set is catalogued in our original British Trade Index part III as :
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALLERS. Nd. (40) ... LYO-48.
It also manages to be squeezed into our updated British Trade Index, though the cut off date for that is 1970. There, it appears as :
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALLERS. 1971. "Lyons Maid". 76 x 36. Nd. (40) ... LYO-280