Three and in
“It was stupid now that I look back at it. Score three goals and you become the keeper. No one ever wanted to be the keeper to begin with, yet everyone tried so hard to get those three goals between the jumpers for goalposts. And then they didn’t really fancy it in goal. But, when relieved of picking the ball out the net/bush, they would try super hard to score three goals again!”
Kerbs/kerbys
“Couldn’t beat Kerbs. Two people stand on either side of the road and throw a football so it hits their kerb and bounces to your half of the road. Extra point if you caught it. Played to the best of 563 if I remember correctly.”
Through the legs
“It was usually played with a tennis ball or empty can. A group of you kicked the ball around, if anyone got ‘megged’ they got a hiding off everyone else.”
Wembley/Cuppies/World Cup
“Up north, we called Wembley ‘Cuppies’ and Wembley Doubles was called ‘Two-man Cuppies’. We developed a kind of offside rule using the six-yard box – if one two-man team took the ball into the six-yard box and lost possession, another team had to take it out again before scoring, including rebounds off the keeper. It worked really well but led to some contentious decisions! I was never any great shakes as a footballer, but my friend and I still discuss the glorious Tuesday afternoon when we defeated most of our high school’s first team at Two-man Cuppies.”
Head tennis
“Head tennis over the fence with the next-door neighbour. Before school. In your PJs. And boots.”
Spot/slam/wall ball/reboundies/wallet/shapes/wally
“You had to kick the ball at a largish wall in the playground. The next player attempted to do the same with the rebound. You were only allowed one kick, although you could let the ball stop (but then it was further away). There was also a climbing frame to the right of the wall, if you could get the ball in their it made the next shot almost impossible. When you missed you were out. The winner was last player not out. I Played that game for hours at primary school.”
Kick ball fly
“A stupid game that barely had any football in it. Once we did the one potato two potato and established who was it someone twatted the ball as hard as they could down the street. While the it person ran to retrieve it everybody else hid. Once back with the ball, placed in the middle of the road, it became the ob and you had to find everyone like hide and seek. You’d run back to the ball and touch it saying ‘Stevo behind the Austin Maxi, at the ob’ and so on. If one of those hiding could sneak back to the ball without being seen he’d twat it again down the street and off you’d go again, until everyone was found. We never got to the end of that game and some of the kids would sneak off home for tea or out of boredom. I can’t, for the life of me, understand why we played it so much.”
Death square
“It’s played with a tennis ball. played in some sort of marked square where you would pass the ball to each other until someone made an error like kicking it out of the square or putting it through someone legs in which you could kick the shit out of them until they got out the square. If you accidentally chipped the ball up and someone caught it you’d have to go through the tunnel of death. Everyone would line up either side and you’d have to run the length whilst getting kicked and punched. Game was eventually banned by the school as the tunnels would attract anyone in the near vicinity and basically became a free for all.”
Squash
“The game of squash was very popular for a while in our grammar school playground in the 1950s. Basically, it was played against any stretch of wall in the playground. The idea was to hit the wall at any height or angle, but only one touch, until it proved impossible to get the ball back to the designated part of the wall. The ball was usually a tennis ball. It could be played as singles, doubles or even more up to the whole class. Later, as a young teacher, I got my schoolboy footballers to improve their ball skills by playing a more sophisticated version. A line about a foot above the ground was drawn on the wall, and a small court chalked on the ground. It was played like the game of squash, but with a full-size plastic football. the aim was to get the ball to hit the wall above the ground and bounce within the court. Very difficult to start with but it soon produced the improvement in the ball skills of the lads. They no longer had to wait for the ball to plop in the mud before they could play it.”
Jumpers for goalposts
“Football in the park, 15-a-side, traversing round the see-saw, monkey bars, slides and dog shit. Rush keeper and no toe-pokers from within the (hotly disputed) six-yard box. Play until it’s literally too dark to see the ball anymore.”
Alley ball
“I went to a pretty rough working class school where we used to play a game called alley ball. Basically around 40 people stood inside a handball alley with 20 on each side. The aim was to smash the football as hard as you could at the other teams players. And if you were unlucky enough to get hit in the hand with the ball, every member of the opposite team gave you a dead arm. Fun times.”
The crossbar game
“Me and a friend made up one game – although I’m sure I’ll be told a million other people did this too. One point for hitting the post, two for the bar, four for a Yeboah, 10 for hitting the corner and all points doubled for using your weak foot or making it look spectacular. It was known simply as the crossbar game. It was excellent.”
60 seconds
“Essentially a variation on headers and volleys. You’d have 60 seconds to score one header or volley, then 60 seconds to score two headers and volleys, then three, then four etc. If the outfield players scored a non-volley, or if the keeper caught the ball, the shooter replaces the keeper in goal, and the game starts again from one goal in 60 seconds. Our record was 15 headers and volleys in 60 seconds.”
Suicide hockey
“Two versus two in an enclosed courtyard. You score by hitting an opponent’s shins with the ball. Using hockey sticks, obviously. We thought we were inventing our own Eton Fives.”
Thanks to everyone who took part in the comments section and on GuardianWitness
