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For anyone that doesn't remember, League Ladders were a simple device. Essentially the main part consisted of a thin piece of cardboard with slits cut into it, on top of which was printed the empty league tables for England and Scotland. Into the slits you'd slot some thin cardboard tabs th at displayed the names of all the English and Scottish league clubs. As the league tables changed each week, it was your job to pull out the tabs and place them in the right slots to show each team in their new position. Team tabs for published league ladders are certainly far older than I had ever imagined! Previously, I had believed that football magazineSHOOT! produced the first of these in the 1969-70 season, but my research (primarily through the work of Roger Pashby and his site at http://www.huddersfieldtowncards.co.uk/team-tabs.html to whom im grateful) has revealed that in fact they go all the way back into the 1920s! Lets start with an inventive group called THE FOOTBALL ATTIC 2013-14 who, in August 2013, to celebrate the popularity of League Ladders produced their own 'fantasy' set of League Ladders for 1913-14. You will find a link to their website and a fully printable set of both ladders and tabs in the links below to show you what they might have looked like had they been available 100 years ago, just before the start of the 1913-14 season. As you can see, they tried to be as authentic as possible when it comes to the admittedly minimal styling (give or take the occasional bit of indulgence here or there), and rest assured the details and team colours shown are accurate as any examination of Ayr United’s colours for then will show. The Football Attic Ayr United tab for 1913/14 is shown here and showing Ayr United’s home as Beresfield Park. |
The major producers of these little items were ROVER, CHAMPION, TIGER, LION and VALIANT comics, all published by Amalgamated Press / Fleetway / IPC from the early 1920s and into the 1970s. It seems that between 1955 and 1965 the League Ladders published were alternated between LION and one of TIGER and VALIANT comics. In the early years of these tabs (between circa 1934/35 to 1959/60) the colours were white lettering on a blue background for Division 1 and red lettering on a white background for Division 2, all detailing the colours of the clubs’. |
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From 1960-61 the colours’ changed for the first time; certainly in 1962-63 VALIANT had the 2nd Division teams represented by red letters on a yellow background with black edges. Also, up until 1962-63 tabs were not perforated for easy 'push-out' use; instead they had to be cut from the printed sheet. In 1963/64 LION led the way in having team 'colours' on the tabs with the Ayr United tab showing white text on black. Another innovation in the 1963/64 season was the printing of the previous season's finishing position - a boon to all collectors trying to date individual tabs! |
Peelable PVC stickers were used for seasons 1992-93, 1993-94. |
I have been lucky enough to have my Scottish League Ladders personalised by showing a footballer in an Ayr United shirt as background (above) and having not only the normal Ayr United home tab produced, but also an away version in the 2017/18 away colours (shown below). Ive also had some single (one off) team tabs for other seasons as shown below which are not in general sale. |
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