Carpet Pitch - Friends of Old Subbuteo

When the three brothers played their games when they were growing up, the carpet was the stage for many years.

There were some of the usual Subbuteo injuries from kneeling on figures, with both figure and knee worse for wear! ?

However, this all had to stop when the middle brother was admitted to hospital for surgery suffering from 'Subbuteo Knee' or 'Prepatellar Bursitis'. According to 'patient.info', it's caused by "inflammation of a small fluid-filled sac (the bursa) in front of the kneecap. It more commonly occurs in people who spend long periods of time kneeling, playing Subbuteo."

So, this pitch is a nostalgic tribute to those early days of playing Subbuteo on the floor.

The first game

This pic shows the room the Stadium of Fingers was going to be located in. However, as soon as it was playable, after the builders had done the wiring, it was time to invite the Craftsman around for a quick game. This was the first ever game of Subbuteo to be played in the 'Room of Fingers'! ?

The Carpet Pitch wasn't properly fixed to the MDF, as this idea hadn't been thought of yet - The Carpet pitch was designed to be played on the floor, however this particular floor was going to be unforgiving on the knees!

The first ever flick in the 'Room of Fingers'!

After first ever flick in the 'Room of Fingers'!

It wasn't long before Adam scored... 1-0 ?

The Craftsman had the better of the game to be fair...

However, late on there was a corner for Fingers, with a shot 'on the fly'!

Unfortunately, the shot 'on the fly' ended up 'in the bucket'! ?
The first game in the 'Room of Fingers'
The Craftsman 1 Fingers 0

The other first game!

Fabio 'Donald Crowhurst' Bertola was passing through, from Milan, and stopped off for a game or two. The Carpet Pitch was now fixed to the MDF board, and it was time to try it out. The stage was set for Millwall v Sweden (painted and kindly donated by conankrom)

By all accounts it was an action-packed match with many goals and goalmouth incidents. Unfortunately the record of the result has been mislaid and neither player can remember the score. ...The chaos that is Old Subbuteo. ?

Before the first flick in the other first game on the Carpet Pitch

After the first flick in the other first game on the Carpet Pitch

Some pics of the S'fortunato Finger Cup Finals

For the Southend-on-Sea Old Subbuteo Club (SoS OSC) tournaments, the players that get 'knocked out' at the group stages , are entered into the 'Scoundrels Cup'.

The players that lose their Scoundrels match are entered into the 'Tournament of the Unfortunate Finger' ?

The final of this celebrated tournament is always played on the carpet pitch!