Topps Ireland.  How to be invited in Europe...

 

1987.  Topps creates a set of 88 cards (printed by Topps Ireland in a splendid small yellow box), similar of the set produced for the USA.  But they are some little differences between this irish set and the american one.

 

About one-third smaller, the card (on the player side), show its name, position, team and logo. the back is much dispute. Although the statistics do not resume the previous year and that history is minimal.  It is primarily the presence of a "dictionary of talk football" which occupies the greater part of the card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For exemple, here is the front side of Phil SIMMS (QB - NY Giants) in the american set.

 

The 80s are, for the NFL, a series of attempts to implement if not physically, commercially in Europe. It is true that the attempted World League was not brilliant and the NFL Europe was then in its infancy (NFL Europe, died in 2008 by the NFL to fall back on the U.S. market before competition scheduled UFL).

 

This set will be the only one specialy printed by an american card manufacturer for the european market (except the 1989 Topps set with only 32 cards).

 

 

 

 

About the cards, only the big stars are printed for Europe, as you can see on the checklist side of the box. 

 

Cards #76 to 87, forms a puzzle to have William "refrigerator" PERRY on a side, and some pictures of games on the other side.  Realise a huge picture in a set is not a new step for Topps who created for the 1983 set the same process for 3 pictures.  But for an only one player, that's new!

 

The #88 card is the checklist.