'Flick to kick': Subbuteo making a comeback at new Cork club

A TABLE-TOP game simulating soccer with flickable players, stands, corner flags and floodlights, which is often played on a green baize cloth with pitch markings — but no VAR, as yet — is going to make a comeback in the Cork suburb of Wilton.

Subbuteo was invented by Peter Adolph in 1947 in Tunbridge Wells in England and the flick-to-kick tabletop sport became very popular until the advent of video console games such as the Fifa series relegated it from the games rooms of teenage boys in the 1990s, only to be rediscovered in the attic decades later to tackle pandemic boredom.

Shanakiel Subbuteo enthusiast William Magnier is among a small but growing group of players in Cork who rediscovered the game during covid.

Rediscovered

“I thought it was dead and buried,” he said. “I thought it was finished with the onslaught of video and online gaming, no one seemed interested,” said William.

“I bought a set for my son around 15 years ago, and the players had photos stuck on top, he never got into it, the players were so bad.

“It was more than 40 years since I played it until I started again around two years ago when four of us started going down to David Elton in Tralee once every three weeks to play with the lads there,” said William.

“I looked it up online at the time and there were clubs everywhere — in England, it’s huge in Italy, Spain, Belgium, the USA, and Japan, and they will all be playing in the World Cup.”

So enthused were William and his team-mates that they decided to set up their own club in Cork, which will be meeting for the first time in the SMA Hall next Monday evening, from 7pm.

“We’re seeing how many will come along — we expect four to six of us there, and we’ll see after that,” said William.

World Cup

A few months ago, William was involved in a competition to qualify for the Subbuteo World Cup, which will be in the game’s birthplace, Tunbridge Wells, narrowly missing out on a qualification spot. As William quipped: ‘Football is coming home for once’.

Among his fellow founders of the Cork club, however, is Italian player Mario Fritelli, who qualified for the Italian U-19 Subbuteo team to play two World Cups in 2006 and 2007.

“It’s definitely the most friendly community I’ve ever been involved with,” he said. 

“The games are competitive, but there’s plenty of banter and craic. The best players will always help the newcomers.” 

To get started now, a competition standard team will cost around €20-€25. While Subbuteo does produce teams and other games-related paraphernalia, William recommends other companies such as Sureshot and Zeugo highly for the quality of their products. You can play it on a baize cloth pitch or pay between €50-100 for an astroturf pitch.

This week on the Subbuteo and Table Football Cork Facebook page, William has been posting training videos to show those who might have an interest in the game some of the basics — everything from defending drills to flicking the ball accurately over over different distances and, perhaps the most essential skill of all, close control.

The ball has been flicked to you now — what are you going to do with it? Pass it or go Route 1 straight for goal!