Wartime Scarcity: Swansea Town Cards of the 1940s

The Second World War brought British cigarette-card production to a halt, leaving very few Swansea Town cards from the 1940s. Although football resumed after the war, rationing and shortages of paper and other materials meant that card production returned slowly and on a much smaller scale.

The known Swansea issues from the decade appear to be limited to a Football Playing Card from the 1946–47 season, an L.T.A. Robinson card issued in 1949 and a shield-shaped City Bakeries club card, whose precise date remains uncertain.

Their scarcity reflects the difficult conditions faced by card manufacturers during the war and the years that followed.

1946–47 Daily Dispatch Football Stars Series 2 #13 Trevor Ford

c.1946–47 Sphinx Products Poolette Football Pool Card Game – Swansea Town

1948 D.C. Thomson/The Rover Football Club Colours – Swansea Town

1948–49 Sporting Mirror Famous Football Teams Letter Card #15 – Swansea Town

1948–49 Anonymous/Daily Graphic? Soccer Stars #23 Roy Paul

1949 L.T.A. Robinson Football Stars of Today and Tomorrow – Roy Paul

c.1948–54 City Bakeries Football Club Shields – Swansea Town — date provisional