Newfooty

Newfooty is an early tabletop football game in which players flick small figures with a finger towards the ball. The Newfooty Limited Company was established in Liverpool by William Lane Keeling in 1929, the year the patent was registered, and the game is described as the original finger-flicking table soccer game, older than the better-known Subbuteo, which appeared as a rival in 1947. The first figures were flat, made of card, followed later by celluloid ones, and in 1960 Newfooty brought the first three-dimensional plastic figures to market. A set held 22 figures, goalkeepers, balls, wire goals, a fixture card and a rulebook. The Newfooty Players Association, founded in 1934, organised leagues and cup competitions and is described as the world's first players association. The company later went into liquidation and its rival Subbuteo took it over.