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I used to love that tournament. Imagine Prem league clubs allowing their finest to play in such a tournament these days! If I remember right, it was usually on the telly quite late at night, so it was a special evening being allowed to stay up late! Wasn't it sponsored by a newspaper originally? I suppose I could Google it, but can't be bothered!
The atari sponsored competition was the Soccer 6 and played at the Birmingham NEC. We also played in the Evening Standard 5-a-sides at Wembley Arena which was mainly London clubs with a few invited outsiders. We put out a strong first team in both, don't even put out a strong first team in the FA Cup now. Those were the days.
One thing I liked about these tournament was that sometimes the best 5/6-aside players were not necessarily regular first team players. Indeed, I always thought I was a better 5-aside than 11-aside player, and certainly enjoyed it more.
I actually went to see the Daily Express 5 a side competition at Wembley Arena (Empire Pool Wembley as it was!) in I think 1972 and again a few years later. Spurs won it in 72 and while London teams were prominent, teams from around the country, incl Man U, Celtic also played. They didn’t just shove out the reserves either.
In 72, my dad and I were seated in the front row and got there very early. After some minutes 4 or 5 suited blokes and an old bloke sat down behind and got into conversation with my dad and myself. They were very pleasant towards a scruffy kid and after about 20 mins they left, but not before asking me if I wanted them to sign my programme. I had no idea who they were but said thanks.
When I looked at the signatures, they were Kevin Hector, John O’Hare, Colin Boulton and a couple of others whose names escapes me now. The old bloke was I suspect Peter Taylor, but I may be wrong.
I obviously went in search of an autograph or two more and got some of the Ipswich players including Mills, Colin Harper, Viljoen and Laurie Sivell. I think Ipswich made the final, but that may have been the one I went to a few years later.
They were great evenings and it was fun to see a lot of famous (at that time) names up so close.
Mid 90s I got an invite to watch Brum v Coventry in the Coca-Cola cup and blagged a seat in the directors box (Only time I've ever been near one)
At half time I wondered to the boardroom / hospitality area and stumbled over Birmingham City's trophy cabinet.
Quite loudly I questioned why they'd need a trophy cabinet (What? They've got a trophy cabinet? Blue and why duster? etc.) before inspecting the contents and noticed three trophies. A couple were the Auto windscreens cup (EFL trophy) and the other was an "Atari soccer cup".
Perplexed at what it was I wondered if it was awarded for some of their juniors who had entered a gaming tournament. Checked it out later and it was similar - Wiki says they beat us in the final in 83.
More to the point, if we were wearing the older one for that, why was Steve McCall wearing the current away one of the time and not the same as the rest of them?
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