FOOTBALL IN THE ROOM, OR STREET, OR ON TABLE TENNIS TABLE

I have been at Holmfirth High School this evening, hiring the ample gymnasium for a session of FUTSAL. Under 11s tonight (boys and girls) and 45 minutes worth of slightly chaotic indoor football, a quick wooden gym surface and an echoey room. Not ideal for concentrated FUTSAL but beggars (actually we hire it, of course) can't be choosers. It was fun nevertheless.
A small group of our girl footballers and some eager boys started with a warm up to try a skill or two and then a match for about half an hour, 7 a-side. It was 3-2 at the end to one mob or the other.

Futsal or Footsal, as the youngsters gradually worked out, means indoor football (in a room). We have always played indoors in the school gym, when the weather is bad, with a plastic football and dangerous wall bars hanging off the gym wall. In South America and Iberia, where they play futsal seriously, they get the idea that their game is a thing of beauty, deserving great facilities; and so it is and has!

The game is 5 a-side with a goalie and many replacements. The smaller and slightly heavy ball can't be bounced off walls although we know that the British designed a game where that was legitimate where the ball was played rather like billiards, against the sides and back of the curved "court". The Latins played skillfully using a touchline and goal line as in 11 a-side, which of course adds to the skill factor..

Futsal was formed in 1930 by Juan Carlos Ceriani, a teacher in Uruguay, who saw his country win  Olympic gold medals in 11 a side footb all in 1924 and 1928. Uruguay also won the "real", 11 a-side World Cup in 1930. He wanted to improve on this and using basketball courts at YMCAs, he invented a game, preparing his country to beat the world at any level. He took rules from football, waterpolo, basketball and handball, integrating them into Futsal. Joao Lotufo took the game into Brazil and eventually the game migrated through South America, round the world.

A World Futsal championship was won by Brazil in 1982, with Paraguay runners up and Uruguay 3rd. The first FIFA Futsal World Cup was played in 1989 in Rotterdam. Brazil won beating the hosts.

Present World Ranking is, in order: Brazil, Spain, Russia, Argentina, Portugal, Iran. Kazakhstan, Italy, Ukaine, Colombia and so on not including in the slightest hint, England. We got Futsal as an international sport in 2003, one of the last nations to get the sport established. The first Futsal League in Britain was founded in Pendle, Lancashire in 1990.

Street football in Venice 1960.
Teqball I have mentioned before is table tennis football! Jorkyball is 2 v 2.