Old school footy was no place for the faint-hearted
IWAS watching the antics of professional footballers on TV last night.
The slightest contact with another player sends them reeling as though hit by a sniper bullet.
What is the matter with these guys? Watch carefully sometimes the speed of their rolling on the ground is faster than the speed they were running, they actually accelerate.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that recovery time from injury depends on who has the ball.
If the opposition is in possession the rolling around and thumping the ground would shame a wounded warthog.
However, should his team have the ball that ‘injured’ player will be up faster than a NASA space shuttle. It’s nothing short of a miracle.
In my volunteering roll at Macclesfield General I did think of walking into the wards in my soccer kit playing keepie-uppie to get sick patients up and out of bed. For some odd reason the ward sister didn’t like that idea.
Have you seen the boots footballers wear today? They are really ballet pumps with studs.
My socks weigh more than modern football boots and…no sign of dubbin at all. I used to spend hours dubbining my boots which, if I am correct, were made from rhino hide.
And what about the ball? You couldn’t kick a wet case ball from one goalmouth to the other… you’d be doing well to get it out of your own half.
They play with a plastic balloon now.
My PE teacher was always hollering, “Head it, Barlow.” Knowing that three kids in front of me had already ducked-out told me everything I needed to know.
Nutting a leather case ball was like stopping a wrecking-ball with your head. It doubled in weight when it got wet and should you be unlucky enough to head the lace you’d be scarred for life.
Goalies gloves were ‘borrowed’ from your mum’s wardrobe as they were of the finest leather.
Unfortunately, they often had fur around the cuffs encouraging much ridicule from your team mates.
Take a look at the gloves goalies wear today.
They are enormous. You could catch a dustbin one -handed in them.
Once a player goes down today they have a full resuss-team on the field in seconds. The only thing you got at my school was boos from the opposition and our PE Teacher yelling, “Don’t be a wimp.”
You can email me at vicbarlow@ icloud.com