Simon Hutchinson

Started playing Subbuteo

Why did you start playing?

I received my first Subbuteo set as a Xmas present from my parents in 1973, just before leaving to live in the USA while my father taught at Stanford. On my return to the UK in 1974 I found all my friends had the game and I was quickly bitten by the Subbuteo ‘bug’. We organized the North Leamington Subbuteo League (NLSL) in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. My team, Leamington North End, dominate the NLSL for four years. I stopped playing when I started playing five-a-side soccer on a regular basis. My teams and accessories where put in my parents’ attic.

I immigrated to the USA in 1992, and in 2000 I was living in California. One day a colleague at work, Steve Tucker, asked me if I had ever played Subbuteo. “Yes” I answered enthusiastically. The following day he brought in his set and we played for 20 minutes on his desk, I was Wales and he was England and the game ended 1-1. Later he introduced me to Wayne Smith and the rest of the SCSC.

I know my old teams are still in my parents’ attic as my mother keeps asking me what I want to do with them.

Father of Dominic Hutchinson