Coom & Currie Sports cards

From Fan to Breaker: Building Community Through Card Collecting

Ben Coom & Martin Currie Season 1 Episode 11

The card breaking scene has exploded in popularity, but what makes a truly exceptional breaking experience? In this eye-opening conversation with Lee Cardsley (aka Stu) from Cardsley Breaks, we discover how breaking cards has evolved from a simple transaction into a community-building entertainment experience.

Stu shares his journey from collector to breaker, revealing how watching others open cards on TikTok sparked his entrepreneurial spirit. Unlike many breakers who use pick-your-team formats, Cardsley Breaks exclusively employs random team allocation—ensuring everyone pays the same price and has equal opportunity to land premium teams. This philosophy of fairness extends to his practice of sending freebies to every participant, regardless of whether they hit big in their break.

What truly sets Cardsley Breaks apart is the vibrant community he's cultivated. His WhatsApp group grew from 15 to 80 members in just three weeks, serving as a hub for trading, exclusive giveaways, and even a Fantasy Premier League competition where the winner receives a hobby box. During breaks, Stu incorporates WWE soundbites, quiz questions, and engaging banter, creating an atmosphere that keeps viewers coming back even when they're not buying spots.

The episode highlights fascinating contrasts between UK and New Zealand breaking scenes, with different approaches reflecting regional collecting preferences and market sizes. For anyone curious about card breaking or looking to build their own collecting community, this conversation offers valuable insights into creating engaging, fair, and sustainable collecting experiences.

Check out Lee Cardsley Breaks on TikTok and Instagram, and join their WhatsApp community to experience firsthand how the right approach to breaking can transform the hobby from isolated collecting into shared passion.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to Coombe Currie.

Speaker 1:

Trading.

Speaker 3:

Cards.

Speaker 1:

Podcast where collecting meets the game. Shirt number yeah, um, we're back and we've um, yeah, super excited special guest on today. We've got lee carsley, aka stew. Um, we're super excited to get him on and have a chat with him later on.

Speaker 3:

Um, yeah, nice, I like like your setup as well.

Speaker 2:

Nice touch of class to the pod that yeah, as professional as possible yeah, I mean.

Speaker 1:

I mean, yeah, comparison to to us um sort of sitting off my sofa and you're, you've got a proper setup.

Speaker 3:

So it's messy in front of you, so I won't show you what's around. Yeah, awesome.

Speaker 1:

Well, yeah, really, really excited to get you on the chat and then we'll go into a bit more detail, um with stew, after we've gone through a couple bits. But, um, yeah, also looking forward to letting you know about the first break that I went into with, um, with with lee cardley, um the other night, which was, which was great fun, but we'll talk about it more going forward into the episode um, much anticipated that isn't it.

Speaker 2:

we've uh, we've been about it more going forward into the episode Much anticipated, isn't it? We've been talking about you going into a break for a while, so I'm quite keen to hear how that went MC.

Speaker 1:

It's been a long time coming. You know. I think we've spoken about it previously and I kept umming and ahhing and going round the houses going who do I go in on and what breaks do you do? I'm sure you're the same when going to breaks, but it was great May as well talk about that now, shall we?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, I'm keen to know how you're feeling, because obviously we've had Nick from KCC and this is really cool, because obviously I'm from the UK but having a UK breaker on and seeing from your side, stu, I'm looking forward to hearing, because I only know one thing. So I feel I've done a lot of breaks, but I kind of go to the two same people you know, same guys over here, um, so it's decent to know what goes on there.

Speaker 2:

But what I'm keen to view, mart, is how you're feeling now. One breakdown, talk me through it yeah, I'll um.

Speaker 1:

I'll paint you a picture, shall I um? So it was what night was it was it front, um, it was wednesday night, wednesday night. The reason I know that it was because it was, um, my wife works late on a wednesday, so she I remember her coming in and I had a, an airport in one of my ears and she was like what, what are?

Speaker 2:

you? What are you doing?

Speaker 1:

oh yeah, nothing, um, and I was like, yeah, that's fine, did the nicer tease and went, yeah, how are you? Yeah, good, good day. Yeah, yeah, move on. And um, and yeah, obviously I was.

Speaker 1:

I jumped on the break around 9 pm with um, with stew, and it was. I honestly loved it, um, and I think I said to you, stew as well, I'm looking forward to jumping on it again. And it was, I honestly loved it. And I think I said to you, stu as well, I'm looking forward to jumping on it again, because it was just a whole new sort of experience for me in terms of how it works, because all break it's all sort of I guess it's all sort of different. I mean same sort of premise but like different in other breakers.

Speaker 1:

But, um, it wasn't just the break that I enjoyed, it was the whole environment that you created. Um, I think it was super good, your personality was great. Um, the sort of the quips of the WWE, sort of soundbites, was for me. Um, I really enjoyed that. But, um, it was a lot of good chat between the people that were jumping on as well, um, and you sort of threw in some quiz questions if you hit a certain amount of likes on the live um and it was just super engaging. Um, which was probably what I may have been worried about jumping on a break, how engaged is the person that's sort of presenting it or hosting it? Um, but, um, yeah, kudos to you. It was um, it was super enjoyable. Um. I probably would have stayed on longer if I wasn't um a dad and knackered um, but yeah, it was. It was great, mate. Honestly, yeah, really well done. Um, I think you're doing great stuff and I'm looking forward to jumping on the next one. Um. But yeah, obviously you know kumi. You were saying how, how does it work?

Speaker 2:

because obviously you're so used to a couple of breakers in, yeah, new zealand we've already from what you're saying, from your description of uh like with stew, is uh different to what? What? What's happening here? So it'd be good to uh. I know we're probably going to jump between topics, but when we get into chatting with Stu and Stu talks about the, the breaks, and um, uh, lee Cardsley and and that, then we can jump back. I think to to then your experience, because um, yeah like straight away.

Speaker 2:

That sounds like you know it's different, so there's more to it rather than the break. But obviously we'll hear that from Stu shortly.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely so. Right, let's get mail day out of the way and then we'll jump in with Stu, because I just want to pick your brains a bit, stu. To be honest, mate, cool, cool BC. What have you got in the mail this week, mate? It's been a banger.

Speaker 2:

So I was speaking on last week's podcast about when I was away and then checked in with some breaks that I watched after the event and I had an absolute worldie of a week. Okay, but the stuff from Card Crazy they send out every week, so I had a bumper mail day. I know, stu, do you, do you collect in the NFL, or are you just all football?

Speaker 2:

football and wrestling oh yeah, nice yeah, but obviously I'm massively into the NFL, so you've got Origins over here. I don't think that they do football Origins, but it's a lovely product. But this year, like, what I've been waiting for is Seahawks in the 2024 product, was quite poor. Just you know. No, no decent rookie quarterback with Gino Smith and the base cards have all buggered off as well.

Speaker 2:

So Lockett's gone to Titans, dk Metcalf steelers, gino smith's gone to raiders. It was not not the best, but now we've got like milro and, uh, some decent um rookies. The product's really good. So I will start with the absolute banger. I had a the two of five I spoke about which was jsn, which is my pc.

Speaker 1:

Uh, that patch yeah that patch is the. It's literally a laundry tag.

Speaker 2:

Um, admittedly, I I don't get it. I don't get it at all, the laundry tag. But um, when I was looking at like how, how view patches we were talking about this Mark, weren't we just before, obviously, the NFL Shield, and then you've got the Nike Swoosh. But then the third one on a lot of these polls was the Laundry Tag. I don't get it. I don't get it at all. But it's JSN, it's 205, and it is a lovely-looking card.

Speaker 3:

So that came.

Speaker 2:

This week I had a Elijah or Roro. He's a new tight end like a jersey patch also it's quite nice. I got another one coming from KCC which is a really, really nice patch. So this one's just like a bit of a bit of jersey. So hopefully that comes next week. I got a in the same break from score a jsn auto or a base card. Um, and another highlight for me was international hobby was a field level view of Julian Love Dragon Scale. So yeah.

Speaker 2:

Dragon Scale. Yeah, it's a beauty that. Yeah, how wild is that. Whilst I was in the card shop, I picked up a select Premier League megabox. I saw, yeah what did you get from that? Yeah, Diogo Jota in the pink Nice. Yeah, such a nice card. But the good thing about the Megas is you get there's a lot of pink parallels in there and they to me they're just lovely looking cards I got. It's gone now, but he's gone to a gel.

Speaker 2:

Pedro, in a bright shirt that's numbered. So that was a one three, one of the one, five, five.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I've got my Cody gap bow and then you might be interested in this. I only bought this for a picture I wanted to do on my Instagram with my replica heavyweight title belt. I got a Jimmy Busso Superstar Worn patch, nice.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

It's a lovely looking card that.

Speaker 3:

Select. Yeah, I just gave away a Rey Mysterio version of them.

Speaker 2:

Oh really.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I gave it to a friend. But, they're lovely, lovely cards, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's nice, but that's my second ever WWE card. The only other one I've got is a Shawn Michaels signed card. It was obviously my yeah, I guess idol growing up, so yeah, pleased with that Bit of Jimmy Uso there.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, it's been a mad one for for May, all day. So, yeah, pleased with that bit of Jimmy Uso there. So yeah, it's been a mad one for for mail, mail day. And then, I guess, slightly away from mail day, we I was saying again, mark my little and collects the Disney Locana cards, and we've opened so many packs trying to find these enchanted cards. And finally, the other day I don't know what that is, what, what character that is, but yeah, we finally got one of these enchanted cards. So she was buzzing, um, but it's quite good actually, like we were. We we had four packs and I was all opening one and then when we got it, like we were just like she, she recognized it straight away as like an enchanted card. We're just absolutely buzzing. I don't even know why, because I don't even know what this thing's from, but the fact it was an enchanted card, just like yeah, so it's been a it's been a decent week.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, everyone's hooked. Now, that's it. What about? What about the wife? Yeah, she's got into the lakana cards.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, she likes it, but now we've got the enchanted, you know that's it done find something else move on exactly.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, not the same anymore. Is it done and dusted? Um, yeah after you, huh, you go now go on you go that.

Speaker 3:

Jal Pedro card would have, would have probably sparked your interest a little bit, as a Chelsea fan, I believe yeah, absolutely massive Chelsea fan, so I'll collect, obviously, the Chelsea cards and I'll also collect players that have joined, like Jal Pedro, for example. I'll be collect players that have joined or, like Jal Pedro, for example, I'll be collecting his card in a Brighton kit if they leave. Chelsea, I'll be collecting their cards after Chelsea.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, all things Chelsea, I'll collect, no matter if they're playing in a different kit, if it's before they joined us or after they've left, I will still collect it well, I'll tell you what, stu, when I come over at the end of the year, I'll bring you what, stu, when I come over at the end of the year, I'll bring that for you and not posting it from here as I found out the hard way when I sent some to MC.

Speaker 2:

It cost a bloody fortune, but yeah, I'll save that for you yep, appreciate that.

Speaker 3:

That's a lovely looking card, yeah, so when?

Speaker 2:

I bring it over. I'll give it to you, mart, and we'll get that over to Stu. It's a lovely piece that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Go on, MC. Hit us with your mail.

Speaker 1:

I had two wonderful cards come into my PC. Actually I don't know if you'll like it, stu, but BC, you'll like these Two Gerrard cards obviously for my PC.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, yeah you sent me the pictures, yeah yeah, tops total football um, both numbered 7 to 50 um from the 0607 season champs league and then 21 to 50 from the 0809 season um. It's my first gerrard numbered cards um going in, so that's that's nice to tick off. I've been looking at autos, but um, quite expensive, I'm finding, obviously, and so yeah, that's my next on my list. I want to get an auto at some point. I think there's one on there that I saw for maybe the cheapest ones, about 60 quid. It's a temp but I'll keep looking. But I have got some other Gerrard cards coming this week so I'll let you know, Not like the eight grand one you were talking about on the last show.

Speaker 1:

No, it's gone down to seven now has it yeah. Yeah, so we're getting closer to a price that's a bit more reasonable, should we say. But yeah, other than that, I actually pulled another numbered card from the tops retail packs, are you? I actually don't know too much about, it's a rookie card. So it's Louis Guillerme, for West Ham to 199 okay, don will be all over that, then won't he?

Speaker 1:

he will. He's actually quite annoyed at the moment, actually, because he's he's not pulled any, any number or autos from the packs he's bought, so he's losing.

Speaker 2:

He's losing patience, um that that that was not from the eco pack. That was meant to be his uh when he uh, well it might well have been, have you popped me.

Speaker 1:

it might well have been from that eco-care pack actually, yeah so there you go. What have you learned?

Speaker 2:

from that.

Speaker 1:

Learned from your mistakes, exactly, yeah. Yeah, quite quiet on the mail day, but I've got some good stuff coming up this week. Use it on those, yeah, and obviously got a lovely e-care package from Stu. Yeah, the 199 Loftus Cheek from Milan and the German Under 23 pack as well, and a couple couple more freebies. So, yeah, super nice to send that in. Uh, from the break that we did, um, but, yeah, let's, let's jump into you know, let's jump into shu, let's jump into his, his world, um, shu, tell us a little bit about carsley breaks, how it came about, how long you've sort of been doing it and, yeah, a bit bit of the backstory on it yeah, so I'll take you back to 2023, like this summer.

Speaker 3:

I was literally at work scrolling through tiktok and I came across my first ever card breaker, um, and at the time he was selling psg team sets like as individual packs, because the chase in there at a time was, I think, like two numbered cards um, you get autos one in every two boxes or something and, um, at the time, you're looking for the Neymars, the Messis and the Mbappes, and I was hooked, like at first I was buying the packs and then I was like I'm not getting the hits here, so I then eventually moved from packs to boxes, um, and then a couple of weeks later, um, the algorithm of TikTok I see that all the breakers now, um, and I'm like this is something I can do, because growing up, I was collecting the sort of Merlin stickers, the sort of match attacks cards, and I felt like, whilst I was watching that breaker at the time, it was the thrill turned into, like, from receiving one of those good cards, turned into actually opening the cards, like I was actually excited for him to open my pack. So I was thinking why can't I do something like this and sort of bring it back, because I obviously grew up. There was a period where I stopped collecting this sort of stuff and then, um, yeah, I started my first ever car channel um from about August 23 to like March, april 24, and that was on TikTok as well, and then, uh, stopped. I don't know why I stopped.

Speaker 3:

I think just work got in the way, life got in the way, and it wasn't until january this year that I thought you know what, why don't we just have another crack at this time but then go full guns blazing um, plan a lot of plan ahead, sort of I didn't make many mistakes last time but I didn't want to. You know, there was reasons why I had to stop um last time, so I kind of wanted to learn from them. Uh, learn from those mistakes, um, and I think just seeing lee carsley at the time um on tv, it just popped into my head like I just I was hooked on there to just sort that name out, and it kind of sparks a lot of people, because usually when I stream I'll be sitting in a Chelsea top and I'll have people going. Why have you got an Everton player and why do?

Speaker 1:

you support.

Speaker 3:

Chelsea, or they'll come in and say up the toffees. So I've got to do that awkward bit where I say, well, I don't actually support Everton, so yeah, so it was. Yeah, that's how League Cards League came about, I guess Just just through. Yeah, exactly like that.

Speaker 2:

Have you got any League Cards? League cards.

Speaker 3:

Someone did send me some actually. I don't know if you've collected these. Did you collect the shoes? Ah, no, I I. I don't know if you've collected these?

Speaker 1:

I'm not sure. Ah, no, it rings a bell, but yeah, never collected them. No.

Speaker 3:

So 2006, 2007, that's the only Lee Carson car.

Speaker 2:

I love that, so there we go.

Speaker 1:

I mean the name is just yeah.

Speaker 1:

I mean being Liverpool fans. Obviously me and Cooney are Liverpool fans always remember Carsley and Graveson sitting in the middle, just two bald sort of ball breakers in the middle, just like not really technically that good, but like, well, you know you're in for a match right back then. Um, but the name is just amazing, mate. Like honestly, it's always sort of stuck in my head and I think, um, we always joke. I mean, you probably still laugh at it sometimes when you get that feedback from people about the name. But we laughed about it, didn't? We came here when we, when I said that I've been chatting to, to carsley brakes. But yeah, it's amazing, what a great pun.

Speaker 2:

Love it that's good, that's decent yeah so so so stew, before your um, before you decided to um start breaking and stuff did you, we, you, you mentioned that you you collected in the past, but did you have a particular PC or something like that, or how long were you collecting?

Speaker 3:

So growing up it was just like the Merlin stickers and the match tags, whatever I got in those packs. Then, over time, when I started getting back into it, it was those PSG team sets that kind of made me think you know what, why don't I just start collecting these? And then over time I just shifted to the team I support. Chelsea brought a binder, put all the old cards in that binder, traded some cards, got some new ones in. So yeah, for now it's just Chelsea. And then I transitioned. Actually there was a period where it was just wrestling so here behind me I don't know if you can see that so yeah, for now it's just Chelsea and then I transitioned.

Speaker 3:

Actually there was a period where it was just wrestling, so here behind me. I don't know if you can see that. Shelton Benjamin. Oh yeah, nice yeah. This is a one-of-one Wow that's a vinyl, yeah, but the story of how this came about. So on my old page we do giveaways on this page, but we did giveaways on the old page and one of the giveaways was a top finest WWE blaster pack so this was from a blaster.

Speaker 3:

so I opened it up free giveaway from a blaster pack and the 101 was in there and he yeah, he was a Rangers fan at that time and I think we had a good two, so auto card in, so we just traded. He wasn't big on wrestling at the time so I definitely keep that.

Speaker 2:

So I definitely accept it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, nice yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, nice card. Yeah, so when you, when you going back to these psg, uh team sets, what product was that at the time?

Speaker 3:

so it was like a team set so cinemated one like the of let's go injured behind me um it was like that.

Speaker 3:

So there was six packs in a box, um, I think it was like one or two guaranteed numbers and then you could get autos in like special boxes. I think it was like one in two or one in three, um, so, yeah, I did get like two autos. They've now gone, but I got, yeah, two autos and I think I brought I can't tell you how many boxes I brought in the end but I only got two autos. I think there was a period where I was like, yeah, this is not worth it anymore.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think I got, I got the Liverpool team set.

Speaker 1:

Do you remember, kumi? I got that a few months back.

Speaker 2:

From the Fanatic store.

Speaker 1:

No, no, no, I ordered it online actually, but I got the Van Dijk patch card from that pack Number to 50. So that was quite a nice pull. Yeah, I know the team sets you get, yeah, the Madrid ones as well, barcelona, yeah, all the sort of all the big teams, right, um, but yeah, right, what's next breaks do you ever have? You ever do you buy into your? Have you ever bought into your own breaks? Shoe, is that a thing? Is it frowned upon?

Speaker 3:

what's sort of. I've never. I mean it's difficult. I've seen other people do it for theirs but I've never done it for mine and that's purely because a major reason why I do this is I get, I'm buzzed pulling a major, major card for someone. And if I did it for myself if it was a good team, bad team I just wouldn't. I wouldn't be like I'd give it away straight away, like I just wouldn't. I'd rather someone else come in build that sort of community vibe. I kind of think it defeats the the point. If you join your own breaks.

Speaker 3:

I mean that's fair enough. I mean, somebody made a point the other day he asked the same question in the comments and he said you know, if you get Barcelona and I will see all the teams we do a random. But If you get Barcelona, and obviously all the teams we do are random, but if I end up getting Barcelona and I get a decent card, one, it could potentially look a bit fishy and two, like I say, I don't get the thrill, I don't get the thrill of opening my own stuff to keep. If that makes sense, I'd rather pull something major for someone Because, yeah, I just it's a feel good factor, I guess.

Speaker 2:

With your, with your break. So we were saying, mark, like most of the ones over here, so you get, like we do some random teams, like in the NFL, but like generally, once the checklists are out, it will go to pick your own team. What I want to know, mark, you already know a bit more is um a, I'm gonna fry, I'm gonna fire some things at you. So a, what products are you breaking? Um b do you do any? Pick your, pick your own team. Um, let's go with those okay.

Speaker 3:

So recently I've got the, I've had the impeccable just behind me, the obsidian, both the box and the international box um never done pyt, never, never right. And that's just because I like it. I like to keep it fair. Everyone sort of pays the same price. Everybody has the same amount of chance of getting a good team. Um, I've seen. I hate comparing prices, but when you do pyts some of the big teams are quite expensive yeah that price down as low as possible and everybody say you know pays the same amount.

Speaker 3:

Um, I think it's fair for everyone and I think that I think that's part of the the community that we've got here. Everyone is on board, board with not doing sort of PYTs. Everyone pays the same price, everyone has the same chance of getting in one of those good teams. But, like I say, if you hit or if you don't hit, you get freebies at the end of the day. So everybody has to open on arrival day which I think is what you want.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I like that. I think it's interesting because obviously, mark, you're more football, as in soccer. I hate saying it but I find with NFL I'm a Seahawks fan but you're kind of like other players. I've got a Tua Tagovailoa PC. I guess I'm more open to having cards from other players, whereas as a Liverpool fan I don't want anyone else in my PC. I wouldn't collect, so I would find that quite tricky. But then again, football is a bit different. Aid is less teams and what I found over here in New Zealand, for example, when you've got some breakers that are doing uh sort of soccer or whatever you get your top teams go straight away, um, and then maybe this is because we're from england and we've been brought up in football, but then who's going to buy burnley, for example?

Speaker 2:

like so you, I find over here, you then get like a little, um, a little section of teams that never get bought. But but flipping what you said about the prices, I don't know if this is something you, you've seen or done or or ever happens within the breaks that you're doing, but obviously with the some of the sort of really, especially with national treasures just coming out, and impeccable as well for NFL.

Speaker 2:

We were saying last week some of the prices because you've got I think it. And impeccable as well for nfl. We were saying last week some of the prices because you've got, I think it's impeccable and national treasures.

Speaker 2:

You've got, I think, five, eight cards or whatever it is so a lot of teams are going to miss out and I was saying, like, when you look at like commanders, for like 2024, they were a really high price. But then they, when those teams don't sell, they'll do like fillers and closers and stuff like that. So then you'll you buy into that and then you've got a chance of you know, whatever however the price is worked out, if you're paying ten dollars or something like that, you've got a chance of of winning commanders. And I had that this evening in um the browns this year because of like shador saunders and that are quite expensive and no one bought browns, so he had a closer for it. I think the each entry was like six dollars or 620 or something. I chucked one in and I managed to pull browns, um, so that was quite nice, um, but I guess, with the way you do it with randoms, you probably don't have the need for like fillers and closers and what not yeah, spot on.

Speaker 3:

So, regarding the impeccable most recently you get three impeccable boxes in a case. This went in about 40-45 minutes. Yeah, I urge the fact that we here at Cardi Breaks, you know, send freebies, which is hugely important, because when I used to buy in, I hated getting empty packages. Yeah, yeah, you spend a lot of money sometimes, you know, especially those that buy multiple spots, and if you spend multiple money and don't get anything in the post one, they're not going to come back again. Yeah, that's not the community vibe that I want. Um and three. It's part of you know, it's part of the hobby. If you buy in, you should get something, because that's something which is a freebie could be essentially important for your collection.

Speaker 3:

I don't sit there and I try my best to sort of sort out teams for people they support, but I'll literally pick up a handful of cards, some packs and whatnot, um, but like I say that that random card that I've given it might be the, the final puzzle to their, yeah, their collection really. So, um, but yeah, random teams is is for me, it will always be above pyt. I think I've never I've actually never done a py at py2, right, um, just purely because I feel like if everybody like I keep saying, if everybody pays the same price, uh, they've got just as much chance as anybody else to get those sort of re-admitted sparse loaners, uh, and so on yeah, what I've noticed as well from your instagram on the, on the links.

Speaker 2:

So so I think, with if you're, it's different, isn't it? Because obviously, in England you're gonna have, like you were saying, your, your impeccable break went quite quickly, um, but here, for example, if you, if that that was applied, you'd have a lot of people with a lot of cards that don't actually want. But what I noticed from your Instagram is that you've got a chat, um, and you're you're tonight. You're talking about a lot about community and the type of people, um, or the kind of vibe you want. Does that filter down to having a good knowledge of who collects what? So then you're facilitating, or you're having a community where they can trade teams or trade cards they've got and stuff like that. Is that that's quite important for you, I guess?

Speaker 3:

yeah, so we have. Actually we've got a whatsapp group um. Every day I look into that group and there's always someone selling something or links to their ebay um, which again, I don't mind them promoting themselves, because this is what the community is all about. It's about, you know, meeting new people um trading together. This is why everybody's in the card game really um building those, you know, building those sort of connections um. Our WhatsApp group, I think, went from about 15 to like 70 80 in about three weeks or so which is which is quite okay, I think um because you know it's not everybody wants to join a community group chat.

Speaker 3:

It could just literally be shoved under the carpet and forgotten about. But I think you know we it's a nice vibe in there. You know there's a few united supporters. So when the groomsby game was was going off, that was quite nice to sort of put a few messages in there.

Speaker 3:

Um, but yeah, it's just a bit of banter and we run our own sort of fpl league where the winner of that league will get a hobby box yeah, I saw that so, yeah, some people at the end of on a Monday, if they've done a good weekend they'll screenshot their sort of score, but when they have a bad weekend they're nowhere to be seen. So I think my team at one point. So, yeah, that's not good for me, but yeah, for me it's just building that community, meeting new people, trading, bantering in the group. And again, what's good about this WhatsApp group is that there's exclusive giveaways for those people in there, which is another reason.

Speaker 3:

So yeah, all around it's a good bunch of people in that group.

Speaker 2:

When you put up a new break, do you all, what platform do you use to to say that that breaks up?

Speaker 3:

is it facebook or uh, so what we do is the whatsapp group. Members are notified yeah um, and then about an hour later, I'll put it on my tiktok story, the instagram stories. Uh, those guys have, I mean first dibs, yeah, but but yeah, they've got the opportunity and what we also do is we do first five orders gets a free pack so it's important.

Speaker 3:

If you're part of the WhatsApp group, you know you're going to get a guaranteed pack or something if you jump in. But yeah, usually the first break sort of sells out, with only about four or five spots left before I even go live yeah which is decent. It's not too bad so do you have?

Speaker 2:

so yeah, I'm not bombarding your questions here, but when you you just said there like there might be four or five left, do you? How would you fill them? So obviously you're going live before you. That's the set you, you know potentially sold all the slots. How does that work?

Speaker 3:

So so I open up the. So on a morning I'll I'll open up the shop I tend to go live most nights at between sort of 9. Pm. Most nights my time 9. Pm. By the time 9pm hits, because it's been advertised in the group. It's been advertised on our social media pages. The guys can literally just click on a link and pay for a spot in the break. So by the time I log on at 9pm there's been times where that break has already sold out, so I'll put another break up.

Speaker 3:

And then, yeah, I'll randomise the teams for the usernames that have participated in the first break and then off. We go from there for the usernames that have participated in the first break and then off we go from there.

Speaker 1:

Oh nice, yeah, that was quite.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it was pretty nice.

Speaker 1:

That was quite exciting. I found that quite exciting as well. The whole. I didn't know what team I was going to get, so obviously you generated the users and what they got, and that was a bit of an adrenaline rush in itself. Yeah, I got into Milan hoping for like a Barella auto or something like that, but no luck this time.

Speaker 3:

Usually it's the teams like again, with all these good teams and bad teams, especially in that Obsidian, you can get Ajax, you can get Frankfurt, you can get PSV, and they all came out of those boxes that night. So everyone wants, everyone obviously wants a big team, but it's the smaller teams that hit um as well, and that's what I think people forget that as well, when, when you find out your team for the first time, when you realize you've got uh, laverkusen obviously no disrespect to laverkusen um, you can get two cards from that box and people seem to forget about it. So yeah, sometimes it's good to have a not so good team instead of having a big team.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, definitely 100% away from bit of a delay there, we've got that lag back. I think, aren't we?

Speaker 1:

are you all good?

Speaker 2:

um, yeah, I was gonna say away from the your breaks. What. What do you? How do you get your cards? You buy sort of boxes yourself. Would you buy singles, go in, use other?

Speaker 3:

breakers. Ideally we do. Uh, we'll shop online um. When I say we, it's just me, um, but we as a community.

Speaker 3:

I'll shop online um to find the sort of best price um, because if I can find a really good price for myself, it'll be a really good price to sell yeah like I say this to because that is a common question in the streams I'll take a look on on google each week, each day, because there's always a website that will be. You know, every day we'll have different deals, different promotion offers, um. So it's important to to have a look every single day on google, um, because a website might be having a clearance though you never know and it's good to to get involved and snap them up straight away. But ideally I'd like them in cases, because then we know for sure there's going to be cases, which is always nice. Um, if there's times where I can only get one box, then I'll just get one box and what about for yourself?

Speaker 2:

like so away from what you do for the breaking side, for your own pc, your own collection? How do you collect your cards? Do you? Do you buy specific ones now or go into other breaks yourself with other people?

Speaker 3:

so with these, um, the new ones, the top supreme legal ones in the supermarket, yeah, that's actually what I'm sort of getting, that now, um, because it's supermarkets about five minutes down the road for me, so it's just easy to just and get a load. Um, but back in the day when I was seriously collecting Chelsea cards, it would just be me going on the Topps website, ebay, scouting around, especially eBay for single cards, so pretty decent. But yeah, at the moment it's those Topps Premier League sort of cards trying to get a yes to Val Diamond rookie. Oh, yeah, nice, at the moment it's those Topps Premier League cards trying to get a yes to.

Speaker 1:

Val diamond rookie. Oh yeah, nice. How are you getting the Topps product for the new Premier League stuff? What do you think of the product itself?

Speaker 3:

I think it's okay. I think we're waiting for the Hobby Box version to come out and then, further down the line, you'll have the Chrome Box, chrome box coming out, um. So it's nice now, um, but I think it's the sort of excitement to come, I think yeah, what have you?

Speaker 1:

um? Have you pulled anything?

Speaker 3:

it's nice uh, I've got a couple of number like really cards like 299, 399, nothing major. Again, no diamond rookies and I've probably gone for about three boxes and then individual packs here and there, but yeah, nothing too major. But again, as soon as the hobby box comes out and you know there's going to be a guaranteed something in there, then I'll probably have a couple of those boxes for the PC.

Speaker 1:

Nice, there's going to be a guaranteed something in there. Then I'll probably have a couple of a couple of those boxes for the pc, nice, um, yeah, obviously, at the moment I'm really, I'm really into the top stuff and I'm, yeah, looking to, I'm searching for the auto. That's what, that's what we want. Um, but, yeah, um, what would you say from your break so far? What's the best pool you've had so far? Stu?

Speaker 3:

Jeez, obviously we've had a few one-of-ones, but we've had Pele patches like low-numbered. We've had Luminia Mal patch Patch Autos On Card Autos as well, I think. For me personally, I think those On Card Autos from that Futera set I don't know if you'd call it out of time, but we've got like Rivaldo, roberto Carlos, louis Saha, roy Keane I think we've got Rivaldo twice actually, but it's just those On Card Autos. It's like a collector's item, but don't get me wrong, the one of ones that are amazing as well. But I think just having an on-card auto from one of those legendary footballers is just unreal for me. But I guess it's personal preference, really, isn't it?

Speaker 2:

well, knowing they've actually had the card as well, rather than just a sticker, is uh, just add something different to the card.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely yeah, they're definitely uh a lot cooler yeah, that's what we discussed big rivaldo fan oh, some player, some player, um, always remember that bicycle kick he scored. I think it was a hat chick. He scored a bicycle kick from the edge of the box. Yeah, incredible player. Yeah, um, cool. So we'll move on to what. What for you is like the end game for cars do breaks, because obviously you've you've built such a great community. Um, obviously tiktok is um, you're flying on on on that platform. What would you, what's your sort of end game? Is it just to continue doing what you're doing? Grow the community. What? What's the? Uh, what's the plan, mate?

Speaker 3:

yeah yeah, it's exactly that. It's to basically have another source of exposure to this game. Um, there's so many channels doing amazingly well and I don't know if you guys know but sort of this card game is, is is growing, and I think right now is the time to sort of, especially for my channel, to be that another source of, of exposure, to get the word out to, to bring excitement, uh, to this game because, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of people out there that go, oh, you still collect cards and you're a fully grown man, but like this. So check out my pages, don't get me wrong. When I first started this page, there was a few mates of mine that were laughing, going, oh, this is, this isn't going to take off, or um, and now they're, they're getting involved themselves, do you?

Speaker 3:

know, it's just as example you know, if I can continue, grow, continue that community allow people to sort of have the chance at grabbing these cards. I'd say a fair rate because normally there's people out there that won't buy these hobby boxes because of the price. If I can keep the price as low as we can for these breaks, it gives them an opportunity to grab a card they've probably always wanted but either couldn't afford or they've not found. But at the same time I like people in the stream because I'm chatty, I'm engaging, answering all questions. They don't have to buy when they come into the stream they can literally just chill out and listen to these wrestling sounds I've got on the soundboard here, so there's that For me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, like I said earlier, it was the whole environment you created for your lives was probably what did it for me. Like that made it, you know, such an experience, um, and obviously, yeah, the the wwe soundbites were just, yeah, just cracking me up. Um, it was great, yeah, so I really enjoy it. Looking forward to jumping on the next one. How often do you do the breaks, is it? How often do you do it a week?

Speaker 3:

um. So ideally I'd like to do four, uh to five nights a week, um. So that would be a monday, yeah, four or five nights a week, um, and then, yeah, I'd be breaking and there's no set number I'd want to break. If I can break as much as I can, then I will, um, but me going live is is a four to five nights kind of thing, starting at 9 pm, um, and then just finish when we finish, really, um, so yeah, that's, that's that.

Speaker 2:

MC, who was your first team in your shoes break.

Speaker 1:

Uh, into Milan. Um, are you? Yeah, into Milan. Yeah, I was hoping for, like I said, hoping for like a Nico Barella auto, but it wasn't to be this time, but there's always next time.

Speaker 3:

Who was your? Who was your?

Speaker 1:

first, who was your first team? Bc? What was your first team on your first break?

Speaker 2:

Oh, blimey, probably Seahawks. To be fair, mate, I've never actually been in a Premier League break. I've only ever done NFL breaks. So, like I was saying before, generally I'll go Seahawks, but they were pretty shit cards for 2024, so when I could.

Speaker 2:

I'd get some of the uh, the teams of, like, top quarterbacks just to build up like cards to trade and sell and then buy seahawks from previous years or trade for, uh, some decent ones, um, but yeah, like I've never actually done a um, I had a look because there was one, there's one.

Speaker 2:

Really. I was really curious to hear how you did yours, because there's a company over here that do breaks. They do a lot of football, they do everything, but they do a lot of football. But they tend to break the teams down. So it's still like pick your own team, but they kind of divide them up by players. So you might have like, let's say you take Liverpool, for example, they might be broken down into clusters of four players, then another four, then you might get another four, then it might be like Liverpool other. So there's like four or five opportunities to buy. But for me it just got a bit complicated, um, and I looked at the list and I was just I don't think that's for me, but like that's why you know I'd find it hard, I'd come into a break.

Speaker 2:

That's formatted how you do it for you know, just to see what's what, but I would find it tricky to to continue to do that because I wouldn't want to end up with a load of other teams. It depends on, I guess, how you collect or what you want to collect.

Speaker 2:

So for me I would always go with pick your own team because because of the way I collect or what I collect and I've really closed off in terms of, like, I can't, I don't mind the odd Brighton player, but I don't want anything other than Liverpool players from a football soccer point of view, whereas, like, I'm not too dissimilar for NFL but I love Seahawks, but then I've got other players and other teams that I quite like to collect. So it's different and I guess what got me into it was the NFL cards. I think, generally speaking, I'm much more in that camp than football anyway. But, yeah, definitely interesting hearing and I'm sure, like Nick, for example, and that will find this interesting because it's different and in England you've got a lot more, especially for Premier League stuff. You're going to have a massive audience compared to what we have here here. It's very even in the cardwell. I mean the card world here it feels big when you're in it, but it's small and with football it's even smaller.

Speaker 2:

Um, so, yeah, definitely be interesting for other people to listen, uh, to listen to that. Yeah, yeah, it's different. Yeah, different sized markets and stuff like that. But I think over here I think NBA is a lot bigger. So generally, you have much more trading options, but I think we spoke more than we like. You know with us as well and what we're trying to do.

Speaker 2:

Our main focus is the podcast and just talking to people because we're fairly to do we. Our main focus is the podcast and just talking to people because we're we're fairly new as well, but I think in england and new zealand I want to have some sort of database where I know and I feel like that's more important over here because it's so small so I want to know what everyone's collecting, what the pcs are, because you want to make that the transaction of um, you know, trading and stuff like that a lot more smoother, because you want to make that the transaction of um, you know, trading and stuff like that a lot more smoother, because you want to reduce the amount of, you know, a waste, I guess, for want of a better expression. You know I had a because it's father's day. You know I've got my hobby box today but like I've got a stack like this big of base cards that I've got no interest in.

Speaker 2:

So whilst it was nice to um to open it and it's like that's that other element that you're talking about mark, like even when you're seeing your random teams get generated, that's part of the kick, isn't it like? Once you've bought into the break, that's part of the kick. It's all kind of part of that journey, um. But yeah, I think over here, like you want to be able to know, you want to know who collects what, and you want it nice and streamlined so that you can get those cards to where they need to be rather than just sitting in a box for God knows how long. So I think that's part of what we're trying to achieve.

Speaker 1:

Correct me if I'm wrong MC 100%.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's really interesting to hear how you grew your community and how you keep them engaged, because I think that's one of the key factors, isn't it? Your engagements super positive and it seems like you keep them that community really sort of alert to what you're doing and that's how you keep them within your community right and, yeah, long may it continue. Um, but it's really interesting to hear about it, um, yeah, so, um, listen, shoot, do you one thing? One other question from me actually what is the first break that you went into? Do you remember it?

Speaker 3:

and how?

Speaker 1:

how did it pan out?

Speaker 3:

first break that you went into. Do you remember it, and how, how did?

Speaker 3:

it pan out oh no, I'd tell you, actually it's not. It's not a good ending, um. So I joined break um on uh, whatnot, and um, it was a roy key. It was from uh, it was either the Tops Gold or the Deco Box at the time. Whatever it was, I had a United spot. So I was like you know what fair play On there? That was PYT, so I was just swiping for the big teams, if I'm honest. But I managed to win my United and I got a Roy Keane, also to 10. And I never saw it. So I yeah, so I didn't do, I didn't do any breaks after that. So, yeah, it never came in the post. So someone out there has got a nice Roy Keane to 10.

Speaker 1:

Oh no.

Speaker 2:

So that yeah, that would have put, that would have put me off from the start. That's interesting, isn't it? Because if you have one bad experience, that could be enough to change your whole perception and you think, oh, I might not bother yeah, yeah, I mean I definitely didn't buy um again from that stream.

Speaker 3:

um, but again, don't get me wrong, it could have been every real male who messed it up, but because it was my first time and my first, hit I was thinking, you know my luck's in here, but in fairness, I think I forgot about the card even coming.

Speaker 3:

I think I checked my phone and it was like it said it was delivered or whatever it was and it wasn't here Managed to get the refund. But yeah, never really participated in many breaks after that. If I'm honest, I think that was the the one and only time, unless it was like a, a mate, um of mine doing a break or something, uh, because I've got many mates in this, uh, in this hobby game, um. But yeah, I wouldn't go straight off the back into a new stream and buy one.

Speaker 3:

You know, part of the reason why I do what I do is to build that sort of community, build that trust, have a conversation first. You know I always like people in the stream. You know I don't necessarily want them to buy, um, I want to talk about football, I want to talk about who they support, I want to banter with their team, um, and I think by doing that, that then just enables them to go. You know what carty breaks is pretty decent. I'm going to jump in the shop and you know, buy, buy a spot or two yeah, definitely, definitely um yeah I'm gonna have to jump in one of these because I think it's like a different like over here.

Speaker 2:

Obviously you talk about community a lot, but that's the same for me, like I'm I'm talking to people via messages that I've never actually met. I feel like a friends that I've met through these groups, but that's the important likes. So over here, like the ones I do, but essentially through like Facebook groups, so they go live for the break, for the people in the group they use a chat, you know, a bit like whatsapp signal, where they go out first to people that are part of that chat, but like there's obviously rules around joining the group and stuff like that. But but again, probably more so over here, because I mean, compared to England, I mean the population of New Zealand's five and a half million, you've got about eight million just in London. So once you, if you have someone who's I don't know what the words are put on it, but you know it's important you do something wrong here or you don't send someone a card, or you don't pay or something like that, you're done and dusted because it's a small community. But that's why it's important to have those groups. Have the questions, have the rules. Uh, everyone gets to know everyone and, um, and you know it's pretty good, but it's not. Rather than a stream as such, they just generally go live for that break. So everyone's paid, everyone's ready to go, and it goes live once the breaks ready to go, if that makes sense, whereas correct me if I'm wrong what you're describing it sounds like bang, there's a stream and you've not only have you got your break, you've got all this other chat going on and stuff like that, which sounds, uh, sounds quite cool yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3:

It's bomb. That's literally. That's literally what I've got in the group itself. I've got people going what time you're going on, even though they know it's nine.

Speaker 2:

I've advertised it for 9 pm.

Speaker 3:

They're just. They want to make sure that I'm definitely getting on yeah, exactly, yeah, make sure you're there for nine.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's nice.

Speaker 3:

It's so nice and, like I say especially, I mean not so much the stream is around this weekend because it's international football and that just makes everyone a little bit sad, but when it's like the premier league, everyone will jump into the stream, especially if chelsea drop points. Um, like I said at the beginning, people think I'm everton fans and if everton lose, like I think leeds, I think they face leeds first game of the season and lost.

Speaker 3:

I had all these leeds fans jumping and going leeds, leeds, leeds, leeds. Okay, you could do that. Yeah, funny when that happens yeah, it was.

Speaker 1:

Honestly, I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to it. But yeah, like I said, it's the whole engagement around it, the environment that you create for that life, because I was wary of going on any breaks for a while wasn't I Coombe? Because I didn't know what it would be. It would be black and white.

Speaker 2:

It would take you a while wouldn't it.

Speaker 1:

It would take me ages. Yeah, I didn't know what it would be like.

Speaker 2:

Well, you might need to reconnect, you might need to drop off and reconnect or Mike is constantly going up like, yeah, about half of that didn't he?

Speaker 1:

alright, give me chat amongst yourselves still there messing with it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he, we've been trying to get him on breaks for ages. But what was interesting at the start of this, when I said to him how does he feel? Because for me, like I said on the other podcast, like you, if I hit big, I want to go again. If I don't hit anything, I want to go again. So I feel like the the safest thing for my mentality is like that middle ground.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but I found the whole process like kind of addictive. But it's funny because Mark touched upon it like when you're like randomizing your teams, for example, that's kind of part of it as well. So it's not actually just the cards, it's the whole thing that I found once you bought in, even if it's not running until the next day, for example, that's enough to kind of quench that burst for what it is you're doing, if that kind of makes sense. Um, and again, that feeds into the community side, because you know, like even for that half an hour or whatever you're on or however long it is that you're talking to those same people and stuff like that.

Speaker 2:

So, um, but yeah, we've been trying to get you on for ages more, aren't we?

Speaker 1:

yeah, we've had a few. Yeah, I've had a couple of messages here and there. Haven't we stew? So, yeah, it was um so happy to get you on and and pick your brains a little bit about it all, um, and I wanted to get on the break before speaking to you to sort of understand it a bit better, um, to see if you liked it or not. Yeah, we did that as well. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, but yeah, for my first break, I loved it and it sort of tapped into everything that I like as well. Yeah, the football chat, the banter, the WWE quips. Yeah, top draw mate. So looking forward to the next one. And yeah, if it's 9 o'clock UK time, coomey it'll be what Eight o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah you'll be able to jump on one as well. I'm going to jump on mate, I think.

Speaker 3:

You can keep my stuff for me when I absolutely clean up, you'll get the same first point and you'll hit twice.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's it the streak on one, I tell you riding that wave right, cool.

Speaker 1:

So, stu, do you want to do some shout outs for the socials, mate? Anything for the page whilst we're still on so we're on, uh, obviously, tiktok instagram.

Speaker 3:

Um, in both bios of our pages we've got the links to the whatsapp group and if you're, if you're into the fbl stuff, we've got links to that as well. Um, yeah, whatsapp incredibly important because, like I say, uh, exclusive giveaways, freebies, uh for that stuff for those people. Um, so, yeah, extremely important. If you like free stuff, get yourself in that group.

Speaker 1:

Yeah 100%. I'm going to jump in that WhatsApp group after this, actually Get that community going. But yeah, amazing. Well, look, coombe, you've got any other questions for Stu?

Speaker 2:

No, I think to be fair to you, stu. Other questions for Stu. No, I think to be fair, to be fair to you, stu, I've bombarded you, I think so.

Speaker 3:

And yeah, I think you've answered my question as well.

Speaker 2:

I think you know this whole podcast is. I say this all the time it's kind of boring, but like we're new to it, we're learning amateurs and that's part of the, I guess, the USP for our group and stuff like that being open to what it is so we're learning, so we're going to say things that people might listen to and think, oh, I don't know what they're talking about. But that's exactly it.

Speaker 2:

So I only know what I know from over here, the breaks that I've done and stuff like that. So what you do is quite different to what I've experienced over here. So just having you on, like I was saying to Martin, I was excited, just so, and I think, interestingly, you know, like we have Nick on regularly from KCC and I'm guessing that he would be interested in what you said today as well, because you know he breaks and stuff like that. So I guess it's always interesting to listen to how other people do it and things like that. So I guess it's always interesting to listen to how other people do it and things like that. So, yeah, I think all the questions I wanted to ask, you've answered them well, to the point that I'm definitely going to jump on.

Speaker 3:

Yes, that was good, like I said you don't even have to buy it, it's coming for the chat. Yeah, yeah, definitely I'll wait until Chelsea lose mate, I think I was just going to say we've got some unbelievable fans in the stream sometimes, yeah, so just wait until you lot lose, then you can come in.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, exactly yeah. But you but Mark, on the socials. I found this week I've had a bit of time on my hands and I've been on instagram. I've been sort of interacting with a lot, you know, like actually chatting to people and looking at the cards more and having conversations and my uh, I don't know nothing about algorithms and all this sort of thing, but the amount of people that have just started like connecting and or what do you call it adding friends and stuff like that.

Speaker 2:

This week I think we've gained 60 followers, but just through chatting and having conversations, keeping up that flow of hopefully people like it. You know, try and keep our pictures a bit different, you know, or I want people to look at the stuff and things like that. But yeah, I've had so many interactions this week with with people through instagram, so that's for us, for, like yourself, there's jewish is growing, um, which is really good, and then that generates more like natural interactions on the post, which has been really cool. But I'm finding like I'm getting reoccurring conversations with people and stuff like that. So we're new to it and already like through the, through the breaking channels and those communities, through the instagram, through the tiktok and stuff like that and this podcast. It feels for me like it's taking off, um, but, like the guests we've had on so far, it's been amazing. Having you on on is amazing. It just shows that, um, people are interested to come and have that chat, um, so, yeah, and I've enjoyed it, mate, really have. I appreciate you coming on.

Speaker 3:

I appreciate you guys having me yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, yeah, that's, um, that's, that's a nice sentiment to end it on. Um, yeah, thanks for coming on shoe, really appreciate it, mate. Um, looking forward to the next break. Um, uh, and yeah, all the best for the for the page, mate. Um, you're doing great stuff.

Speaker 3:

Keep it up appreciate that, and same to you guys with the podcast cool, nice one.

Speaker 2:

All right, gents, regards to your families regards to the families.

Speaker 1:

All the best, see ya.

People on this episode