1949-50
SPO-040/SPN-2 Team Picture Books - Presented by SportSport magazine
6 booklets, 36 team photos
Roger Pashby has been doing some research:
I had always believed that these booklets of coloured 1949-50 season team photo postcards had been given away in separate issues of SPORT Magazine, but I have just discovered that this is not the case. In fact fans had to collect coupons from the inside of each issue, six for each of the booklets, and then send the completed form together with one shilling to cover the costs of despatching, posting and insurance.
According to documentation within the Leeds United issue of 2nd September, 1949:
“Charlton, Fulham and Leeds are the first three teams to be included in the sets. Watch out for our next three issues which will contain the second trio of the first six.”
And this is followed by this, in the next issue:
“Charlton, Fulham, Leeds and Aston Villa are the first four teams to be included in the sets. Watch out for our next two issues which will contain the fifth and sixth of the first set.”
Text inside the 2nd September 1949 Leeds United issue states that the first two coupons and a ‘Reservation Form’ had already been issued, presumably starting with the issue with Fulham on the cover on August 19th, 1949. Text inside the Manchester City issue reads:
“This week we print the final coupon for our first set of pictures …”
which, again, ties in perfectly with your lists.
The teams that would eventually appear in your lists for the booklets correspond perfectly to the pictures on the covers, thus:
• 19th August 1949: Fulham
• 26th August 1949: Charlton Athletic
• 2nd September 1949: Leeds United
• 9th September 1949: Aston Villa
• 16th September 1949: Huddersfield Town *
• 23rd September 1949: Manchester City
• 30th September 1949: Sheffield United
• 7th October 1949: Arsenal *
• 14th October 1949: Sheffield Wednesday
• 21st October 1949: Liverpool
• 28th October 1949: Blackburn Rovers
• 4th November 1949: Coventry City (background removed)
• 11th November 1949: Notts County
• 18th November 1949: West Ham United
• 25th November 1949: Portsmouth
• 2nd December 1949: Southampton *
• 9th December 1949: Newcastle United
• 16th December 1949: Queens Park Rangers
• 24th December 1949: Middlesbrough
• 30th December 1949: Manchester United
• 6th January 1950: Leicester City
• 13th January 1950: Barnsley
• 20th January 1950: Swansea Town
• 27th January 1950: Chesterfield
• 3rd February 1950: Hull City
• 10th February 1950: Bristol Rovers
• 17th February 1950: Sunderland
• 24th February 1950: Tottenham Hotspur
• 3rd March 1950: Southport
• 10th March 1950: Bury
• 17th March 1950: Bolton Wanderers
• 24th March 1950: Everton
• 31st March 1950: West Bromwich Albion
• 7th April 1950: Blackpool
• 14th April 1950: Rochdale
• 21st April 1950: Rotherham United *
NB: I have filled in teams above where I am 100% certain and have evidence that they are the featured/cover team; those for which I have no evidence but I am extremely certain are correct are marked thus ‘*’.
You will note that, as I said, the lists tie in perfectly with your lists per booklet of postcards.
So from this, we can surmise that the first three booklets were available in the tail end of 1949 and the remainder in the first few months of 1950.
Roger Pashby
The Huddersfield Town Collection
The full checklist can be found here: Sport magazine - SPO-040/SPN-2 Team Picture Books - Presented by Sport
and a complete illustrated checklist of all 36 cards can be seen here - Sport magazine - SPO-040/SPN-2 Team Picture Books ~ Presented by Sport (02).
Great research by Roger - thanks for sharing. Just going through this set and noticed that Don Revie appears on both the Leicester and Hull cards. He transferred in November 1949 and is noted as having moved clubs on the Leicester card.
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