Subbuteo returns to Tunbridge Wells
With the 2024 Subbuteo World Cup being held in Tunbridge Wells, the Amelia Scott centre took the opportunity to host an exhibition to tell the fascinating story of Subbuteo, from its humble beginnings in Tunbridge Wells to its rise as an international phenomenon
The Oh! Oh! Oh! Subbuteo! exhibition captured the essence of this beloved tabletop football game, showcasing its evolution, cultural impact, and the enduring passion it inspires in fans worldwide.
Visitors were invited to explore a rich collection of memorabilia, rare editions, and interactive displays that brought the excitement of Subbuteo to life.
A request for exhibits
The good folk at the Amelia Scott centre got in touch with Friends of Old Subbuteo to see if we could provide exhibits - ones that showed the cultural impact of Subbuteo in addition to Subbuteo related products. After some chatting, it was agreed to lend some of the artwork, along with the Old Subbuteo Town pitch, and the Cheering Corner piece of terracing from the Stadium of Fingers.
Also, Ed Liddle, the Exhibition Officer from the Amelia came along to Southend, with Mark from Modeus Films, to do a shoot of an informal event, with some interviews with those taking part.
Meeting Keith Buckwell
It was great to meet with Keith Buckwell who designed many of the Subbuteo accessories, including the iconic Green and Tan Subbuteo Grandstand!
Couldn't resist asking him to sign a roof, which now sits proudly on top of the Buckwell Green and Tan pitch, which features regularly in tournaments and events.
We caught up after the event to chat about all things Subbuteo, which ended up including Meccano and Scalextric.
A wonderful trip down memory lane, and to listen to the story of the birth of the green and tan grandstand filled a void in my life I wasn't aware was there! 😅
Interview with Keith Buckwell
Steve: “Keith, this is a really great opportunity for me personally. A coffee with the chap who designed the Subbuteo Green and Tan grandstand!” 😊
Keith: “My pleasure – always happy to chat about those days.”
Steve: “So how did you get involved in design work?”
Keith: “Straight after school really. And the school also pointed me in the engineering direction. I went to Tunbridge Wells Technical School for Boys. Left in 1958 and began a 5-year Apprenticeship in Paddock Wood.
Steve: “Sounds like a firm foundation. What did that involve?”
Keith: “Mainly, lots of plastic injection mould design with an outfit called Insulators Ltd. They were a division of M K Electric. I was doing mechanical Engineering classes on day release and in the evenings, and had to work across different departments, spending time in the Design Office, the Toolroom, the Moulding Department and Maintenance to name a few.
Steve: “Sounds like you were preparing well for your career. How did things progress after you‘d finished the Apprenticeship?”
Keith: “I got a great initial opportunity when Roy Tickle approached me. He was the owner of The Medway Tool Company, and was growing the firm, looking for permanent staff, rather than relying on sub-contractors. When I joined, there was just Roy, his secretary and half a dozen toolmakers. When I left 15 years later, the company had grown to 150 staff. They had regular clients – mostly from the toy sector. Well-known ones with household names like Scalextric, Corgi, Hornby, Meccano and of course, Subbuteo.
Steve: “Wow – sounds like your first job was to die for! Now you need to tell me your favourite client was Subbuteo!”
Keith: “Looking back, I consider myself to have been very fortunate. Right place and right time. Although to be honest my favourite client was Meccano. I always loved the kits growing up and spent many happy hours making all sorts of contraptions. My first job though, was to help with the production of the Scalextric Mercedes 190SL bodyshell, grill and windscreen, and a few other bits and bobs. I remember feeling really anxious when the mould was first opened. You see, my design meant the mould had to slide simultaneously in six different directions – first time I’d tried this…”
Steve: “Sounds nerve-wracking - how’d it go?”
Keith: “Fortunately, all went well, which gave me a great boost – you see wasn’t an over-confident sort of person and this really did wonders for my own self-belief, particularly for my next project, which was to produce the die-cast body for Corgi’s James Bond Aston Martin”.
Steve: “😲😲😲” “Woah, wait a minute – you designed the iconic Corgi James Bond Aston Martin?” I loved that car! The one with the shield that came up behind the rear window?”
Keith: “I wouldn’t say I designed the car – Aston Martin gave me a pretty good blueprint to go on! 😅 I just designed moulds for the chassis, seating, ejector seat, and yes, that bullet-proof shield!”
Steve: “Oh yes! The ejector seat! 😀 This just keeps getting better! …and we haven’t even got onto Subbuteo yet!”
Keith: “Well, to be honest, when I joined, Subbuteo were a relatively small section of our work, as they hadn’t really developed their accessories that much by then. This was to change through the 1970’s…”
Steve: How did things develop through the 1970s when your firm focused more on the Subbuteo products? And how much freedom were you personally given to create these?
Keith: “It depended. When Subbuteo considered adding a new product to their range I‘d be contacted by either Peter Adolph, John Burbidge, or George Erik (who incidentally preferred to be addressed by just his surname 'Erik'.) We’d meet at my office in Paddock Wood and share our ideas whilst preparing freehand pencil sketches which I would then use to prepare fully dimensioned engineering designs to be used in the mould design and manufacture.”
Steve: “Addressing people by their surnames, Buckwell(!) – How very grammar school! 😄”
Keith: “No Moreton(!) – It was just George, who was Erik! The rest of us were Peter, John and Keith. 😄”
Steve: “Of course, sorry… Keith.”
Keith: “Don’t mention it…Steve. Anyway, back to the question you asked, I’d get quite a bit of freedom for simple products like fences, goalie rods, goal frames and so on. Prototypes were seldom needed, and the final product would be approved from my component drawings.”
Steve: “So, the classic Subbuteo picket fence was something you just came up with, and the Subbuteo people said ‘yep’?”
Keith: “Yep”.
Steve: “I love that fence, and the brown and white versions for Subbuteo rugby and cricket. You know many of the Old Subbuteo clubs in Italy still use that fence for their pitch surrounds.”
Keith: “When you say ‘Old’ do you mean clubs that’ve been around for years, or they play an old form of the game?”
Steve: “They started in around 2007, so not new or old. Many of the players celebrate they’re old, but still young at heart. It was from a desire to recreate the joy of Subbuteo from their childhood, so they play with old-style figures, on old-style pitches, and generally have a lot of fun!
So what accessory was the most fun to design?”
Keith: “The Floodlights were quite interesting to design but I was never really happy with the light output but of course it was limited by what was available at that time. 50 years ago there were no LED's or long lasting batteries. Of all of the products, the green & tan Grandstand and Terracing were probably the most pleasurable to design.”
Steve: “I’m so delighted to hear that! In fact I was desperately hoping you’d say that! 😀. So what made it so enjoyable?”
Keith: “Apart from being the largest accessory I felt it added more depth and realism to a stadium set up. The Grandstand was not based on any particular club, the ideas were developed solely from watching various matches on TV. A prototype was essential for this one. The Grandstand, with or without the tunnel, were produced from the same mould by incorporating interchangeable mould parts to accommodate either variant. The curved corner terrace, roof and side mouldings were produced from three separate moulds.”
Steve: “I can only imagine the anticipation when you got to see the first results!”
Keith: “Yes, seeing the first Grandstand parts ejecting from the injection moulding machine was very satisfying. And just as satisfying was the reaction from Subbuteo enthusiasts. It felt like the birth of a special addition to the Subbuteo range!”
Steve: “That’s great to hear! And speaking for all the Subbuteo enthusiasts who weren’t able to voice their views at the time; after 50 years have passed, I completely echo their views. The stadium terracing, and that green and tan grandstand in particular, fired my imagination and passion for Subbuteo stadium building.”
Keith: “That’s great to hear. When I was designing a Subbuteo product, it was always important to imagine how a child or youngster would feel when seeing it for the first time.”
Steve: “The day I saw it in the catalogue I was captivated. 1976/’77 I think….And when the iconic cover of the 1978 catalogue was produced, I can imagine so were thousands of others!”
Keith: “Yes, Waddingtons certainly used the grandstands and terracing to promote the game to collectors”
Steve: “You mentioned you left Waddington’s shortly after this, after being involved for many years, and I was wondering, on reflection what engineering developments you found to be most intriguing in your time with them?”
Keith: “Yes. I left Waddingtons in 1979, resigning position of Design & Development Director. I then joined Lesney (Matchbox) as Design Manager.” For me, as an engineer, the most exciting Subbuteo projects has to be the automation of painting the players, designing a glue-free method of Base assembly and developing automatic assembly.”
Steve: “Well, let me tell you from an enthusiast’s perspective, glue has been an ever present in the world of Subbuteo. In fact the term ‘reglue’ is now officially a thing in traditional Subbuteo circles, representing a figure that has been trodden on accidentally, and left without feet or lower legs, but still reglued to the base, refusing to be retired from the team!” 😎
Keith: “Although from an engineer’s perspective, it’s disappointing it can end up like this, that’s really good to hear!” 😅
The Mini Amelia Scott!
After the event ended, the Friends of Old Subbuteo received an official complaint from some of the 00-scale Subbuteo figures, who weren't given the opportunity to visit the exhibition. To make amends, a mini-museum was created for them to peruse the exhibits. This included bonus images of Keith Buckwell signing the roof of a green & tan grandstand, and of Ed and Mark, who helped to make the exhibition what it was!
Christmas TIME!
So when Christmas approaches, and there's a Subbuteo exhibition going on at the Amelia Scott centre, the idea hatches to bring along the Christmas pitch and No Man’s Land pitch, as an interactive display.
A few exchanges later and everything is arranged. We turn up on the Saturday morning, put the pitches up and wait…
…and not for long, as they attract quite a bit of attention from the visitors. Some had clearly decided to visit the centre, and some were seeking respite from the wind and rain! Loads of folks reminisced about their youth, and the small children found the magic snow on the Christmas pitch too tempting to ignore. After reassuring nervous parents that it was ok for their children to play on the pitches, the snow (which started as a perfectly prepared football pitch, with lines cleared of snow), was less perfect in seconds!
The No-Man’s land pitch attached interest as well, with some parents calling their children to come and listen to the 1914 story, where supposed enemies recognised a kindred friendship on Christmas day, exchanged presents and played football together.
One lady mentioned her mother used to stick the figures in the bases, and that she had helped with this! She said the glue was still in the attic (Durafix, apparently). Needless to say, we’ll be passing her contact details to the Amelia team, who no doubt will be exploring some of the what, who, when etc!
Some of the youngsters played with the figures and, with their own impromptu rules, played Subbuteo! They could just reach over the sides, and some of the model trees were felled by overcoat sleeves. Also, some of the figure broke. One charming young girl’s commentary explained they needed to go to hospital, which was apparently in one of the corners of the pitch. The ward was fairly full by the end of the day! In fact the No man’s Land pitch looked like a war zone after a dozen or so 6-year-olds had finished with it! 😲😂
The highlight of the Subbuteo action was an unexpected cameo appearance by Sarah Buckwell, daughter of the designer of the iconic Green and Tan Subbuteo Stadium, Keith Buckwell. They had popped by to check out the pitches and after a really informative chat over coffee.
The conversation with Sarah went something like this...
Steve: “OK Sarah, when was the last time you flicked a Subbuteo player?
Sarah: “Like, never?!”
Steve: “Not too late to start” (puts sponge ball on penalty spot, in the magic snow)
Keith: “Wait a minute – let me set up the video!” (Sarah gets into flicking position…)
Steve: “OK – you ready?”
Sarah: *Bosh!- ‘ave it!*
Steve: 😲
Sarah: 😎🤣
Check out the slow-mo action replay, and let in sink in… Here’s a woman who has never flicked a Subbuteo figure in her life, using one of the new Subbuteo Lionesses, on magic snow, with a sponge ball, not just slotting, but smacking the ball into the bottom left. Leaving the goalie (who is fresh from winning a Subbuteo World Cup event in Tunbridge Wells) totally befuddled!. Also, notice it might be a middle finger flicking! If we reference the legendary Peter Upton, he says on his website, explaining the updated 1950 rulebook:“The text is altered to allow for use of the middle finger in flicking (does anyone do this?)”. Peter, I think you will find the answer is “Possibly!”
Overall, a great day, with over 100 folks popping by for a look, a chat, and a play!
The Friends of Old Subbuteo have committed to bringing more themed pitches to The Amelia. Long may the fun continue!