With the release of Dynamic Series 1 in 1994, rugby league collector cards hit the ‘modern’ age. No longer would footy cards come wrapped in wax paper, be packaged with a stick of gum (and leave floury residue on your cardboard) nor cost a couple of pieces of silver. I can still vividly remember that cold, rainy day, late in the afternoon of autumn 1994 buying my first packet of Dynamic Series 1, and busting it open. Peeling back that foil, thumbing through the cards, thinking to myself ‘wow!’.
With Dynamic producing the cards, they were thinner but glossier and were a marked improvement on the two sets Regina had released in 1992/93. Furthermore, not only were players included, there were coaches, a number of themed subsets, plus for the first time, ‘chase’ cards which included a set of ‘autograph’ cards. Tucked in the packets were also ‘promos’ that let you mail away for two different sets of ‘exclusives’. For someone who loved building a master set, it was both exciting (and a touch dispiriting) to learn how hard it would be to chase down a full set.
Not long after, Series 2 arrived, at a slightly higher price. The team sets were expanded – which was a great thing for someone who used to grumble about player transfers not appearing in Scanlens sets. There were more subsets just in time for State of Origin, as well as a timely Meninga subset paying him respect when he was close to retiring. However, what wet my appetite was the Top 10 Supporters Choicecard set, which were gold cards threaded in to the packets of the ‘stars’ of the day. These players were selected from mail-in vote forms in Series 1 and something I vigorously chased during my Year 12. My folks owned a corner shop when Series 2 came out, and I discovered you could weigh the packets and the ones with gold cards weighed slightly more and I cleaned up in no time.
However, it was the inclusion of the first ‘redemption cards’ that made me really salivate. Even rarer, these were personally signed Top Ten cards of Mal Meninga and the excitement of pulling the Meninga redemption card still gives me chills (although, inexplicably, I traded it some years later and I curse myself continually for my stupidity).
By season’s end, we were being treated to a THIRD series, a retrospective Masters Series, filled with the top try scorers, rookies and backs & forwards in the massive 1994 season. There were season highlights, more tributes, our first ever acetate chase set as well as another hard to get autograph card for Steve Renoulf.
And if that wasn’t enough, a boxed set centred around the end of season Kangaroo Tour was released with Rookie Sensation and Mal Meninga signature cards. Unfortunately for me, with three full sets busted over the 1994 season, and with limited funds, this was a set I ruefully missed out on at the time, and still hunt for now. No amount of begging could coerce my folks in to buying me one for Xmas either.
1994 was a blockbuster season for the NSWRL. Crowds were the highest they had ever been, all demographics were watching and the game was on the precipice of expansion in to New Zealand, Perth, North Queensland as well as including a second Brisbane team (actually, preview cards of all four teams were included in Series 2). For a footy fan and card collector, it didn’t seem like things could get any better.
The fight for Pay TV precipitated the Super League war and Winfield was forced by Federal legislation to discontinue its sponsorship of the ARL. Dynamic continued to release multiple sets, flooding the market with varying standards of product. By the time Super League and the ARL comps began in 1997, everyone – fan and collector alike – was exhausted.
Yet for that brief moment in 1994, it was a really, reallyexciting time to be a footy card collector. You were spoilt for choice and I still have all the promo posters and promo cards given out to retailers and the sets lovingly pieced together. And when the days grow short, and it gets chilly and rainy in winter, I often fondly recall that day. Despite the criticisms of Dynamic and the era of boom and bust in the card market, and the shenanigans that happened later, I still remember that top card in my hand, the one that lead to me collecting thousands more.
Who was it, you ask?
Well, if you must know, it was none other than the Falcon, Mario Fenech – barnstorming for the defunct North Sydney Bears. See, told you. I’ll never forget.
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