The Beginning.

As a young Canadian boy arriving in Scotland in 1969 I quickly became fascinated by both Football and Subbuteo (in that order). My first Subbuteo matches were during the 1970 Mexico World Cup which in itself was very memorable. My Subbuteo first games were played at a friend's house on a NewFooty pitch using moulded and HW Subbuteo teams. I distinctly remember not being very good at all.

 

Christmas Day 1972 marked the arrival of a Subbuteo Continental Floodlighting Edition (plus a Hibs team) which started me on a journey, which I'm still on!

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The Early Years.

A group of friends started playing occasional matches after school mainly during the winter months which eventually led to the creation of an "organised" league and cup competition. The origins of HCE hence started with the P5 Subbuteo League at South Queensferry Primary School in late 1974. 

The League kept going along the same lines and with the same personnel into High School until the winter of 1978 when other "distractions" proved to

be more appealing.

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I had joined the "official" Subbuteo Club a year earlier and was keen to pursue the game on a more competitive level however initial attempts to find more about the game in Scotland proved very difficult if not impossible. In the summer of 1979 I found out at the last minute that Andrea Piccaluga, current Subbuteo Junior World Champion was to play challenge matches at Jenners department store in Edinburgh. I duly turned up and was casually and very skillfully dismantled by Andrea who was playing a different game to everyone he played in all honesty. Polishing the bases, never missing the ball and scoring from impossible angles by chipping the ball. I was inspired!

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From that 1979 until 1981 (when I left High School) The league and cups had been confined to school holiday based activities as interest gradually diminished.

I still had the Subbuteo bug and so applied to play in the Scottish World Cup Qualifiers for the 1982 event to be held in Barcelona. So, in January 1982 when I received last minute notice after a player had pulled out, my dad drove me through to Airdrie on a cold and bright Sunday morning. It was a real learning experience to witness the competitive game in its raw state even after my previous brief encounter with Master Piccaluga. I didn't really know all the rules especially blocking flicks and defending in general but I did well to score against the defending Champion during a 10-1 defeat. And he really wasn't too happy about conceding the goal either! I still hadn't grasped the whole polishing thing so asked a few questions, watched the top players and then bought some Mr Scheen the next day!