Table football

Thanks to Suzie Wong who dug out an old-fashioned game for us to see in one of her programmes.

It was an exciting football game, as early as 60’s, played on a table. I am really happy that I have played such a game once or twice before. Once playing it, I would be very busy and excited in finding the right rod to rotate so that the ball could be kicked forward or even into the net of the opponent. At that time I wondered if a spider (with 6 legs) could play better than I did.

Except the goal-keepers, the football-players are in sportswear of 2 different colours. They line up in this way: 3 strikers (forwards), 5 midfields and 2 defenders (backs) and 1 goal-keeper. I wonder if the footballers can be arranged in other ways such as 4-2-4 or 3-3-4.

There is no referee in the Game, no penalty kicks, no corners and no outsides.

The most primitive table for the game is made of wood. The footballers are too. They are linked up by metal rods, the ends of which have round smooth wooden handles.

The rods can be pulled to the left or to the right and turned to stop the ball for defending and kick the ball for striking.

One advantage of this kind of game is that it does not require any electricity – good for energy-saving. Unlike those TV football games, it can be played on actual “ground” by 2 players or more. Yelling and sweating are real because the minds and hands are moving all the time.

There is one question in mind. Can the whole set of players be changed to our favourite footballers of a designated football team( for example: Liverpool, Barcelona, AC Milan……)?