A&BC Chewing Gum Ltd were formed in 1949 and produced 16 sets of football cards between 1958 and 1974. Never afraid of inovations, every set co-incided with a football season and tried something new.

The A&BC name apparently comes from the surnames of the four founder of the company; Anysz, Braun & the brothers Coakley. They produced chewing gum initially and then bubble gum, finally including cards on a range of subjects in the packs.

The first footballers to appear were in the 1954 'All Sports' set, in which 36 of the 120 cards featured footballers. The first dedicated set was the 1958 'Planet' set (so named because of a cut-off strip on the top of each strip).

A&BC had a long partnership with the Topps Chewing Gum company from America but this ended in litigation in June 1974. A&BC lost the case and ended up having to wind the company up.

You can read a detailed history of the A&BC company here, researched and written by Nigel Mercer, who also looks after the same football card site which covers the seasons 1965/67 to 1979/80.