Baines Cards

Colourful, collectable, tradeable. This is the world of Baines cards! Today, some rare examples can command prices in the hundreds of pounds. It all started when a toy retailer from Bradford, John Baines, thought it would be a good idea to produce shield-shaped cards depicting current famous footballers and clubs and sell six of them for a halfpenny. Competitions were had for collectors, usually boys, to see who could collect the most in a given time and such like. Rare gold-bordered cards were printed which indicted it was the 10,000th in line produced.

Due to the success of these cards, rivals would start to appear. W.N. Sharpe brought out his own range of colourful cards similar to Baines, but with "Play Up" as a slogan on them.

The popularity of thee cards was noted down in the Press. Commenting on the 1887 West Lancashire and Border Towns Union Cup Final between Aspull and Wigan, played at Fairfield, Liverpool, it was observed that may supporters were wearing these coloured cards, depending on their following, in their hats. "Play Up" in red for Wigan, "Play Up" in blue for Aspull.

For me, they are a thing of beauty. They show a time when the enormity and popularity of the rugby game was exceedingly good. Here I have scoured the internet and asked for examples from friends, have cited where I can.

MANY THANKS FOR THE IMAGES, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH SO I CAN CITE