Table Soccer - The FIFA 21 on PS4/5 or Xbox in the 80s

I sit down and watch the children of nowadays. Most of the time, they are either on their tablets, phones🤳🏿, or a computer, scrolling through social media (FaceBook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok), glazing through things, chatting to friends that they could meet up with but doing this virtually😢. Especially if they are boys, they spend a lot of their life playing FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) for those that are into gaming. Some are into first-person shooter (FPS) games like Destiny, Commander, etc. The key thing is that they are immersed in virtual reality and play for hours. They enjoy the interaction but thinking about it, they all lack the level of social interaction that we had in our days🤷🏾‍♂️. Talking to people, especially girls gives you insight into how to behave, dress, talk, and also impress people👨🏾‍❤️‍👨🏿. Skills that you need if you are doing job interviews or pitching for a business, trying to whoo your future partner in the midst of other guys. The ability to control your jealousy or temper when the competition is playing a blinder or you are on the sidelines when friends are chatting .... Key point: There was a lot of social interaction with people and friends that we do not get today. In our days, the social interaction with boys mainly was physical and present - either playing football with the boys all over Akure, or grouping in pairs hunting down girls - planning, strategizing, analyzing, and for some, executing (ekun oko queen!🕺). They know themselves😁. However, there were other exclusive clubs, like table tennis, lawn tennis, and table soccer.

For those that do not remember, table soccer was more of soccer played on tables (self-explanatory right?). We gathered beer tops that we used for the games and used the inner pieces of a cassette as the ball. Since the game had two forms:

• The games that were played on desks in the school. Our desks were about 40cmX 25cm. You had to use beer counters. The goalposts were made with chalk or etched into the desks. You hand to crop the beer counter to make a goalie stand and we used the top of our biros to play. It was usually 5 a side ( I am fairly sure Futsal come from this)

• The games were played on the floor. The pitch was usually about 1.5mX0.7m. You use a beer counter BUT you were allowed to have Champagne covers or wine covers that were taller than counters. These were used for corner kicks to get an advantage and it was usually those boys that their parents could afford these drinks that have these (cheaters!). Goalposts were made out of metal hangers and nets made out of mosquito nets for the houses (please don't remind me of the people's net we ripped before they completed their houses!)

What made these games fun was that we can play quickly during classes. In JSS 3, we had very good players in Ayo Babade, Niyi Falade, Yinka Onifade and possibly, Toye Alabi. I was decent but just average in games. Quick games, techniques in spinning the cassette head, keeping our counters like they are demigods, and naming them after Nigeria football stars. In the short version of the game, Ayo Babade had very few rivals. Something that he understood the art of spinning the so-called cassette ball. In more tight games, uniform buttons are used as they are smaller and required finesse to get the goals in. Beer top keepers are most likely to save a button than a cassette top. The small tournaments, quick turnaround in games, great excitement.

On the floor version, some other names emerged. Femi Fatokun, Afolabi Akinola but the unusual one was Ola Ogundipe. Normally better in some other sports like Athletics and attracting the crowd with the opposite sex, he was one of those that was never associated with this in school. However, on a terra sol floor that is polished at home, his house was one of the best places to play the game. Yinka's house had polished concrete floors and a lot of us had access if we were good enough but only the exclusive played in Ola's house for various reasons. There were times that games were like tournaments when you play a home and away game. People like Folabi Akinola were into that but trust my friend, win or lose, he is always a winner. Whether by talk or by the actual game, he left victorious. I am sure that must have influenced his club today (Chelsea).

The things that both brought were:

• Social interaction and fun: You talk to people, you needed to know your football and understand angles. It was something that we all stood and enjoyed those playing and there were those that will run commentaries as it is going on. These were those correcting the commentaries being run and there were those plotting out to beat the best

• Exercise and excursions around the town: To walk in those days from Alagbaka to Ala/ Sijuade/Oluwatuyi to play a game is something we did for fun. Since we are not like kids of today that parents ferry to every Tom, Dick, and Harry event ( I am one of them and I am not pointing fingers!), we actually learned to be streetwise, navigate and also keep our weights under control because walking 5-7km daily was usually to most of us.

• We know each other more: A lot of us will not realise how these meetings have bounded us together and also made us know each other well. We spent time unconsciously working out who we can deal with or not in our own comfort zones and who will be in the trenches with us in the days to come. Look around you and you will see that there are those that you knew then that you will trust now because of the event of those times

There we are. I could recount such events on pako tennis with Rotimi Abitoye, Oluwole Ofobuto Akintoye, Niyi Osaka Falade, Ayo Babade, Yinka Obanje Onifade & more. Table Tennis on multiple rows of desks with Ezekiel Egin Jegede, Rotimi Abitoye, Ayo Elebe and others... One key thing ... two things: our sports was for fun and interaction and you can see a common theme - Rotimi was involved in everything and sports. That is why I say he was misunderstood by most. He was a unifier more than a disruptor... That is a story for another day ....