The story goes that the makers of the soccer game wanted to call it HOBBY, but this was refused (too generic). After a rethink they came up with Subbuteo (the Latin name for the bird of prey of the same name).
Quite right crofter. The hobby's Linnaean name is actually Falco subbuteo, buteo being the Latin for hawk, so the hobby, which is smaller than a hawk, is a 'sub-buteo'. QI, eh?