This was rather a hard one, as I was still engrossed in the newsletter and completely forgot that there was a Card of the Day still to do. However, in the nick of time, aided by a scan of just the front, which went on as is, but was replaced the next morning, we have Alex Massie, in the Aston Villa strip, and he joined that team in December 1935. And if you knew that, very well done.
Alexander Massie was born in Possilpark, part of Glasgow, Scotland, on the thirteenth of March, 1906.
His first football team was a local one, Shawfield Juniors, and he played for several other teams before moving across the border into England in January 1927 to play for Bury. However, less than a year later found him in America, playing for Bethlehem Steel. You may not have heard of them, but In 1913, they opened the first stadium in America to have seats, and a year later the owner of the steel company after whom they were named went out hunting English and Scottish players to join his club. Obviously one of his targets was our man.
He only stayed in America for just over a year and in 1930 he turned up in Ireland, playing for Dolphin Football Club.
This did not last too long either, and by the end of the year he was back in Scotland, in a Heart of Midlothian strip. During his time there he was featured on what most collectors consider his "rookie" card, D.C. Thomson`s 1932 set of "Star Footballers (Scottish)", issued with "Adventure". That card gives us his vital statistics "Height 5 ft. 10 ins. - Weight 11 st. 1 lb." and says his other clubs were "Ayr United, Bury, and U.S.A. Clubs", but curiously it says he was born in Ayr. It does not mention that he also played for Scotland, though. For that we have to wait for his next cartophilic appearances,
- card 31 of Mitchell`s 1934 set of "Scottish Footballers
- card 25 of Hignetts 1935 set of "Football Caricatures"
(this set also being issued by Ogden`s, in the same year) - card 28 of John Sinclair`s 1935 "English & Scottish Football Stars"
- card 31 of Mitchell`s 1935 set of "Scottish Football Snaps"
- card 4 of Carreras` 1936 set of "Popular Footballers"
These were all issued whilst he was still part of Heart of Midlothian. .However, the last one must have been slightly behind the times, for in December 1935, he moved to Aston Villa, which is where our card finds him. He retired in 1945, but went straight into becoming the team`s manager, staying there until 1950, when he moved down to manage Torquay United. Though he stayed with them for under a year, he seems to have enjoyed managing, and moved on, in that capacity, to Hereford United, Hertford Town, and Welwyn Garden City.
He died on the twentieth of September, 1977.
Now if you look for this set in our original reference book to the issues of Godfrey Phillips, RB.13, issued in 1949, you will find the following wording : "SOCCER STARS - see item 66"
That leads you to a curious fact, for this set was actually issued three times, albeit with some cards different in each case. The entry for this group in our original Godfrey Phillips reference book is therefore :
- 66. FAMOUS FOOTBALLERS, INTERNATIONAL CAPS. and SOCCER STARS. Small cards, size 67 x 37 m/m. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs with descriptive text, adhesive
A. 50. FAMOUS FOOTBALLERS. Backs per Fig,10 in grey brown; Phillips` name does not appear on the cards, which are thus anonymous. Issued 1936.
B. 50. INTERNATIONAL CAPS. Backs in brown, Issued 1936. Subjects differ from A at Nos. 19, 21, 31, and 34
C. 50. SOCCER STARS. Backs in sepia. Issued 1937. Subjects differ from A at Nos. 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 13, 17, 20, 23, 25, 30, 32, 39, 41, 42, and 46 - 49.
There is a total of 75 different players in these series.
The substitutions on our set are as follows -
- 2 - in - Walter Boyes of West Bromwich Albion - out - B. Williams of Everton
- 3 - in - Jack Bowers of Derby County - out - T Griffith of Aston Villa
- 5 - in - Joe Bambrick of Chelsea - out - C Jones of Birmingham
- 8 - in - Fred Worrall of Portsmouth - out - J. Bray of Manchester City
- 10 - in - Tommy Walker of Heart of Midlothian - out - R John of Arsenal
- 11 - in - Ralph Birkett, Middlesborough - out - F. Keenor, Tunbridge Wells Rangers
- 12 - in - Peter Doherty of Manchester City - out - L Jones of Coventry City
- 13 - in - Harry Hanford of Sheffield Wednesday - out - C Britton of Everton
- 17 - in - Ted Sagar of Everton - out - T Mills of Leicester City
- 20 - in - Jimmy Simpson of Rangers - out - Crayston of Arsenal
- 23 - in - Bob Mc Phail of Rangers - out - W. Evans of Tottenham Hotspur
- 26 - in - Alex Massie of Aston Villa - out - R. Westwood of Bolton Wanderers
- 30 - in - Jimmy Connor of Sunderland - out - D. Duncan of Derby County
- 32 - in - Jimmy McGrory of Celtic - out - S. Lawrence of Swansea Town
- 39 - in - Willis Edwards of Leeds United - out - E. Bowden of Arsenal
- 41 - in - William Richardson of West Bromwich Albion - out - J Jackson of Chelsea
- 42 - in - Tom Cooper of Liverpool - out - T Waring of Burnley
- 46 - in - Ellis Rimmer of Sheffield Wednesday - out - J . Allen of Aston Villa
- 47 - in - Lewis Stoker of Birmingham City - out - P Gallacher of Sunderland
- 48 - in - Charlie Napier of Derby County - out - A James of Arsenal
- 49 - in - Harold Hobbis, Charlton Athletic - out - N. Dewar, Sheffield Wednesday
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, in 1956, the sets are parted, and ours is catalogued as :
- SOCCER STARS. Sm. Nd. (50). See RB.13/66.C ... P50-124
And this entry is more or less the same in our updated volume, apart from the reference to RB.13. So it reads :
- SOCCER STARS. Sm. Nd. (50). ... P521-476