Watching England struggle against Slovakia reminded me of an old cartoon where a soccer team played a group of numbers, and lost because they didn’t realize the ball was a zero.
Hadn’t thought of this in decades.
Does anyone else remember this show? Other obscurities like Hammy Hamster or Vision On? Remember the theme songs?
I remember Simon, but not necessarily the soccer episode. I’m sure you can find it here:
There’s a soccer game at the 52:18 mark. Perhaps that’s it?
Started singing it immediately.
I had a chalkboard as a kid, and this show inspired me to draw some characters, then erase them (sending them to some alternate world). Then I would draw stuff for them, and erase to send it. I got tired after a while drawing all the stuff they needed. Hope they’re doing okay.
The Wombles? Fables of the Green Forest?
Very much.
Did you know they did a remake in 2002?
I did not.
I recently mentioned Vision on to my wife. Our local radio station uses the theme song for one of their daily bits. Hearing it brought back memories of watching Vision On and Take Hart as a kid.
If you are asking about other remembered obscure children’s programs, I have brought up some here before, like Cover to Cover and Readit. Also, here I link to The Math Patrol, The Letter People, and Science Court.
But I didn’t link to Picture Pages before now.
I have seen that when I was a kid (I vividly remember the theme song more than the show) but it was a cartoon that was part of a larger show. Pinwheel on Nickelodeon maybe?
Which theme? There was various music used by the show, all of them were famous tunes before the show.
Like - i suspect - many others, i know a lot of the incidental music
(especially the gallery tune) more than the main opening/closing themes.
(from Vision On)
That has to be it, since it is exactly as the OP describes. But note that the episode begins at 50:00 and ends at 55:00. That way you get the setup and the intro and outro songs.
In the Detroit area we got a number of Canadian kids’ shows, like the Polka Dot Door. I can still sing the theme 40+ years later.
There was also a show called The Friendly Giant, that, IIRC, had some puppets that gave Lady Elaine Fairchild a run for her money as scariest puppet on TV (at least in my young mind they were scary. Looking at pics of his puppets now, I wonder what I was so scared of.)
Another Canadian children’s classic was Mr. Dressup. I don’t remember his theme song, but I do remember his puppets, Casey and Finnegan, fondly.
I had forgotten those shows. And Electric Company too. 
The obscure (Canadian) children’s TV show I fondly remember is Let’s Go, which involved kids doing “let’s pretend”-style improvisation.
Left Bank Two by Wayne Hill. Apparently it was also used as the background music in Little Big Planet.
You should be an honourary Canadian knowing all of those kids shows. Did you also watch the weird mystery/sci-fi show Read All About It!?
