Bryan Robson’s Super League preserved

Way back in Commodore User issue 25 (October 1985) is how far we’re travelling for our latest preservation work – a board game tie-in that blurred the lines between digital and physical play: Bryan Robson’s Super League, published by Paul Lamond Games. And that is the key thing, at first on our C64 entry we wasn’t sure if it was published or not, but turns out it was.

The game sees players building a football team and battling their way to the top of the league, facing random hazards like weather, injuries, and bank managers. These events play out across a physical game board that was bundled with the software – merging board game mechanics with home computer interactivity.

The title was reviewed at the time for multiple platforms, including the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC. Reception was mixed: Commodore User felt the price was too steep for what was offered, while Your Spectrum appreciated the idea but felt more attention should have been paid to the software itself rather than the packaging and extras.

Despite these reviews, the game itself seemingly vanished — becoming one of many titles lost to time. Matt Gander managed to find the board game in 2022 in a charity shop – but tragically without the cassette tape. However, oddly the ZX Spectrum version seems to have been online for a while – though the Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC versions have been missing… That is, until now…

Colin Bell got in touch with Games That Weren’t back in 2022 to say that he had the game, fully boxed and crucially complete with the cassette tape. Things got a lost a little bit, but then Colin got in touch again and we met up briefly at Zzap Live in 2025. Colin promised GTW that he would post the tape down for a loan and so to ensure the tape was fully preserved, and here we are.

Thanks to the kind loan from Colin Bell, Bryan Robson’s Super League has now been recovered and made available again for all the platforms it was developed for. What was once missing in action is now back in play – a fantastic result for those who remembered it, and those who never got the chance.

It’s not going to be something easily playable if you don’t have the board game, but its good to see the software preserved at least. Colin has also done some scans of the board game pieces itself to include, and we’ll add scans of the board itself and other missing pieces at a later date from Colin.

So, a game that was released – but in limited numbers it seems. Finally now preserved and another case closed!

With a huge thank you to Colin Bell for the very kind loan and also for all the wonderful scans.