After I did an Epinions piece on the 2005 JOGO CFL cards, John Bradley, who makes the cards, sent me an article about his cards written by a Canadian hobby writer named Michael Moore. The article made points I hadn't covered when I wrote my piece. I hope the points I omitted didn't distract from his enjoyment of my article.

Since 1981, JOGO has had the CFL card market almost exclusively as Topps once held the similar market in the NFL. Regional organizations have made CFL sets for their teams, while other competitiors (All World, R.E.L., and Pacific) quickly came and went. JOGO has, year after year, kept records of the CFL's biggest stars on their cards. JOGO is a small organization based in Gloucester, Ontario, that has stood tall in spite of its limited scope and small production numbers.

In the 2006 season, JOGO made just 380 sets for the card hobby. The base set offering has just 165 cards, down from 200 in 2005. Part of that can be attributed to the reduction of the league from nine teams to eight, as the Ottawa Renegades suspended their operations. JOGO has always relied on financial participation by its players (One head coach and one general manager also participated in 2006). Any player who wishes inclusion agrees to pay $100, and gets cards that can be distributed as they wish. In addition, JOGO offered these personal cards for sale to collectors. The personal cards are different from the basic cards in the color of their borders. The basic cards have black borders, while the personal cards have white borders. The white cards are more scarce than their base set counterparts.

Other players and cards were added in separate releases. Fourteen first-year CFL players joined in with the others who already agreed to participate, some of whom were 2006 CFL rookies themselves. Fifteen other players had a second card created for them. These separate sets have blue borders, and their print runs were limited to 150. The final card that JOGO offered was a card that commemorated the pro football passing yardage record that was set by Toronto Argonauts quarterback Damon Allen duing the 2006 season. On this card, Allen is shown with his brother, Marcus, who rushed his way to a Hall Of Fame career, and Warren Moon, the NFL and CFL Hall Of Famer whose passing mark Damon Allen broke. JOGO made just 100 cards of this special moment. The 2006 JOGO cards became available to collectors in October 2006. The cards I ordered from JOGO arrived in my mail several weeks later. The basic set (not the players set) cost me $110. The other cards are available at various prices. Acquiring all of the cards in the set will cost approximately $450.

JOGO has always been a little different in its style from American football cards. Because players are also contributors, they often request mention of information that is a little more personal than the personal information that can be found on American cards. Some players even get the inclusions of their websites, and at least one has invited fan correspondence to his e-mail address. Playing stats are included, too, but always in text, and usually limited to the play from the previous season. The CFL is smaller than the NFL in terms of popularity, but many cards show that the bonds between fans and players is mutual.

The 2006 cards are presented a marquee motif. The borders are black, with orange circles surrounding the photographs. A designation, "JOGO 2006," appears just above the shot, while the player's name appears in cursive writing at the bottom of the shot, much like the print of the 2005 cards. The photos are sharp, often capturing a player's expression in spite of the confines of a helmet. Saskatchewan Roughriders center Jeremy O'Day (#52) has a smile on his face while he waits for his cue to snap the football. Another favorite of mine is the shot of British Columbia Lions receiver Geroy Simon (#137), which, at this writing, greets visitors when they first arrive at the JOGO website (jogocfltradingcards.com). The receiver strikes a defiant and celebratory pose. He holds the ball in one hand, surveys the field and the crowd, and gives a look that suggests he is ready to take the best shot from the defense. The cards are UV coated to enhance their photographic qualities. A head shot is included on the back which shows these men without their helmets. The JOGO cards are a reminder of what cards can - and should - be. They are simple, handsome, and informative. The text gives these cards a national color that their competitors never quite captured.

In Moore's article, Bradley mentions having some "rough times" with regards to JOGO cards during the course of their existence. Through the rough times, Bradley has found some way to persevere. When I received the last portion of my JOGO order in December 2006 (I received two separate mailings from Bradley for his cards), Bradley included a note and seemed glad that he'd sold all but 21 of the 380 basic sets he'd made. I hope the tone of optimism I sensed was both correct and warranted. I would miss it if Bradley were to write to myself and his other collector friends and tell us he could no longer make the sets. The CFL season wouldn't be the same if Bradley weren't mailing out offers to purchase cards that are unique to the football card hobby.


Thank you Abraham (openroad) for adding these cards to the database for me.


This is also an entry in the 2007 Canadiana Write-Off.

Thank you Charles.

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