Topps Chewing Gum (English)

Topps Chewing Gum (English)

Topps is a well-known U.S. producer of trading cards, confections, sticker collections, and comic books — including the iconic Bazooka Joe Gum. The company was founded in 1938 and began adding trading cards to their gum packets in 1950 as a way to boost sales (see www.topps.com). The gum itself was removed from packs in 1991, after growing complaints from collectors that it was staining the cards.

Topps entered the UK football card market by taking over A&BC Gum in 1975. This marked the end of A&BC’s English football card issues, with their final set appearing in the 1974–75 season, and the beginning of the Topps-branded era — officially starting with the 1975–76 season.

However, there has been some confusion about exactly when Topps’ first English football cards were released. Several websites list the debut season as 1974–75, likely because the backs of the cards only include statistics up to the 1973–74 season, leaving 1974–75 blank. This has led many to assume the cards were sold during the missing season. In reality, the evidence suggests otherwise. You can find a more detailed explanation of why vintagefootball.cards dates the first Topps series to the 1975–76 season — rather than 1974–75 — here.

The 1975–76 and 1976–77 Topps sets were printed in the United States, but from 1977–78 onward, production was moved to the Republic of Ireland under the name Topps Ireland Ltd. (T.I.L.). All subsequent English football sets — through to 1981–82 — were printed there. During this period, Topps also issued several Scottish sets.

Topps ceased producing English football cards after the 1981–82 season, though the reason why remains unclear. (If you know, do get in touch!) In 1995, the company acquired Merlin Publishing International, another major player in the football sticker and card market.