In Nigeria, football is an important game. Almost every child who grew up here played football as a child. Many of us thought that we were going to be professional footballers, but here we are pursuing different careers and experiencing life.
Football encourages fair play. Following the rules and engaging in positive behaviours are rewarded. Kids need to learn this at an early age. The teamwork in the game helps children learn to work with others and attain a particular outcome. There are some street football games we played as a kid that we can\’t seem to forget easily.
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Anyways, if you played these 6 Street football games as a child, please indicate by raising up your hand. Just kidding.
- Four post
- One touch
- Monkey post
- Kolo beating
- Middle man
- O.G.O
Four posts
The game is played in such a way that there are four goalposts in a rectangle, with one player at each post. You can scare anyone you like to score. It was great fun for the guys. To make it more fun, they added one-touch to it, such that you can only touch the ball once per time in the game until another player touches it.
One touch
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Well, this game was not competitive. Just simple one-touch passes between the players. If you made more than one touch on the ball, then you are out. This game taught people more about discipline.
Read on: 6 great snacks you ate as a child but would probably hurt you now
Monkey post
In fact, the main essence of the monkey post was not about scoring your opponent. It was more about dribbling your opponent so hard. It will become so much worse if you are not good at dribbling; you will sweat the hell out of your life and wonder why you left the comfort of your house. The post of the \”Monkey Post is usually 5–6 feet.
Kolo beating
Only the Ajekpakos like me will understand the football game called KOLO BEATING. So you the Ajebos and ladies should know the meaning now. It\’s a football game that young guys normally play, with a rule that the ball mustn\’t pass in between your legs.
If the ball dares passed in between your legs, that person will be in trouble as everyone Playing the ball will gather a hand to give him a good beating.
Before the game start, all the boys who want to play it must decide on what must be touched to nullify the beating, it could be a pole, car, tree, etc.
So in order to stop the beating, if the car was decided on as the nullifier, the person who had the ball passed in-between his legs must make sure to run up to any car he sees to touch it, and trust me, you must be very fast when playing this deadly game or else if you\’re caught by any of the players before you get to the car, he might hold you down to allow the rest of the team to beat you to stupor before allowing you to touch the car.
Middle man
![\"Street](\"https://insidegistblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image_editor_output_image1675540984-1691327011701-300x200.jpg\")
God, I hated this one so much. All the kids would gather in a circle and would pass the ball around, making sure that the kid in the middle did not get his leg at the ball. The person in the middle had to collect to win the ball completely and make a pass to another person in the circle before they were allowed to leave the middle.
O.G.O
I can\’t remember what O.G.O stands for but, I just know that before the game starts, the ball has to bounce three times while everyone shouts the letters, O-G-O with each corresponding bounce. After that, it becomes free for all. No teammates, dribble everybody. Tackle anybody and score. And whoever scores becomes the goalkeeper.
12 Rules Of Street Football When We Were Kids
1. The fat kid was always the goalkeeper
2. The owner of the ball decides who plays.
3. Penalties were awarded only if the injured player curses a lot.
4. The match only ends when everyone is tired.
5. No matter how many goals you score, the winner will be determined by the last team to score.
6. No referees and linesmen. You could run with the ball even behind the goal post.
7. If you don\’t participate in repairing the ball, you will be given a match ban.
8. If you\’re picked last, you\’re a loser.
9. The guy who\’s never picked was to fetch the ball from the tree when it got stuck, under the
car, or in another person\’s compound to play in the next game.
10. When the owner of the ball gets annoyed, game over!
11. You were allowed to change a goalkeeper in case of a penalty.
12. The most skillful player gets an automatic selection. I missed those old days. True or false?
The other rules are:
1. 3 corners make 1 penalty.
2. The strongest among the team is always their defender.
3. If you foul the owner of the ball no game for u until he forgets.
4. A striker should always be in good time with the defender or he breaks your legs.
Finally,
I am very sure these games have brought up memories of the good old days. Feel free to drop a comment on any game we didn\’t list here. Most importantly, share this article with a friend who needs it.
