Subbuteo in Wales in 1974

A Welsh international Subbuteo player plays a novice

This is a fascinating clip from 1974, ahead of the Subbuteo World Cup in Munich.

A young David Lyons is doing his bit to promote the game, and takes a really pragmatic approach so that a game with a novice can happen, without too much 'stop-starting' to correct dodgy flicks and to comply with the full set of rules.

The resulting scene gives a semblance of some Subbuteo action, with an absorbed novice (the reporter) giving it their best shot.

2:20 - Reporter challenges David to a little game

2:30 - Reporter wins the toss of the coin and chooses to kick off, with the line " It might be my only chance to get in your half"

2:50 - Reporter/novice kicks off and calls a 'change', saying "I think it caught him on the way through."

2:55 - David loses possession

2:57 - A quality sideways drag by the novice (ignored by the Welsh international player), which allows an illegal shooting opportunity for the novice, by a player in his own half.

3:00 - The international player doesn't prevent the illegal shot, and we have our first chance of the match.

3:05 - After the novice completely misses the ball, he strikes up a conversation about the set-up whilst they play on.

3:11 - A dodgy scrape 'flick' by the novice is ignored by the international.

3:16 - The international looks the other way as the novice does a double-flick, and the game goes on.

3:26 - The novice then manages a push-shove-scrape flick in one seamless movement to knock the ball to his left winger. This dodginess is ignored by the international player

3:32 - The novice leans across about 5 feet of playing surface to do the dodgiest of non-flicks. Again, completely ignored by the international.

3:38 - The international eventually creates a shooting chance, which is greeted by the novice's pragmatically stoic "Oh dear - I fear the worst here!"

3:42 - One nil! A goal that is magnanimously acknowledged by the novice, and with a less than muted celebration by the international.

Probably a game that stayed in their memory for a while...and with over 2000 views on youtube, it's received a higher profile that most other games of Subbuteo that have been played, since the dawn of time! The game was about 1 minute in duration ?