Wall Game

by Paul Cooper

“I  played about 500,000 games of ‘Spot’ against the front wall of the house. You had to hit a particular spot and if you missed you got a letter and started to spell out the word ’Spot’ You were out when you finally got the ‘T’.” Phil Thompson – ex Liverpool & England

If you were on your own or just a couple of you and not enough for a game you simply used a ball and a wall.

If you were lucky you could use the side of your house, just depended on location of windows and flower beds. I was lucky as tacked onto the side of our house was a car port. My dad was away a lot so not only did I get a wall (and one that was pebble dashed making the ball fly off at different angles which made things much more interesting) but I also kept dry.

We played games such as ‘Spot’ described by Phil Thompson above, or would look to hit a mark or score into a chalked on goal.

“One afternoon after I came home from school in Oswestry I went out, as I always did, to kick a ball against a wall, trapping it, firing it back, catching the rebound on my instep and sometimes taking it on my chest. Nothing could come between me and the romance with a ball. Unfortunately I was wearing my new sandals my mother had just brought. They were supposed to last two summers.” Alan Ball

The wall was your best footy friend. It was never ill, on holiday or having to visit Granny. It was there in the day, at night in the sunshine and in the rain.

When my son was fifteen he started to go to a nearby car park for 30-40 minutes most days, nothing new there, but he did what he wanted to do, with his favourite music playing through his ear piece. I would say that he improved more as a player in those few months than over the last three years. And it was not just his touch that improved, but also his speed, his power, his co-ordination, his vision, his accuracy, his balance, he had quicker feet and naturally his confidence grew. Of course I would have expected him to improve, but not by so much.

“He always carried a tennis ball with him. Sometimes when he was waiting for me to come out on a Sunday morning, you would hear this ball, whack, whack against the wall. He wanted to make it.”
Peter Buckle (Bobby Moore’s cousin)

While camping in France, when the kids were growing up, I would always pop into the local amateur club to watch some training or a game and would inevitably see a wall made, specifically to knock the ball against. Usually with a goal painted on and numbers painted in boxes with the highest numbers in the corners of the goal.

You never see kids hitting a ball against a wall and I do think they are missing out.

“Dad drew a line on the wall beside our council house, about three feet high. He said, ‘Keep the ball below this line using first your right foot and then your left. You’ll thank me in the long run.’
Using a tennis ball, me, Mark and later Sean did just that for hours on end, day after day, until it became second nature. Like many footballers of my generation, I believe playing with a tennis ball from such a young age helped my ball skills no end. When you actually got a proper-sized ball to kick it was easy after playing with a small ball.” Mickey Quinn

Can you help your kids find a decent wall and show them some magic?

“When I played football, I just played. I didn’t think about it. I found it easy. I taught myself how to play, knocking a ball about, up against a wall. You never see anybody doing it now.” Stan Bowles – QPR & England