Five Brothers and a War
van Pelt Football
That was long before girls got involved in football, so only boys were invited. It was on this little pitch in front of the house that Bertus took up football, and instantly showed that he had tremendous natural talent. On his seventh birthday, he received his first football strip, a red jersey with white shorts and matching socks with shin protectors. He did not get new football shoes, so his well-worn shoes detracted from this overall look, but talent spoke louder than his look, and at all levels, he was brilliant. Kees and Bertus began organized football at pretty young ages; Kees being the older began earlier. The entry level kids started way down in the line-up, League 4D. They then had to train hard enough to improve performance. If they did, they would move to the next level, 4C. That process went on until you arrived in the “Big League,” playing on Sundays instead of Saturday afternoons. Kees and Bertus moved fairly rapidly through the leagues, until playing on Sundays became an issue. After all, Sunday was a day to go to church, not to play football. The field across the street was a great training ground, and the location lent itself very well to honing skills. The boys started using the space by simply using some coats, so the goalkeeper knew which area to defend. Coats were not very good in determining if a goal was scored and as a result, there were many arguments about that. Football fields need goals to be workable, and goalposts are never piles of clothes lying on the ground. So the boys decided to make more authentic goals that would be less subject to argument. One of the kids had a relative working in a lumberyard and talked him into donating posts and a couple of crossbars. They were not quite up to regulation, but everyone seemed very pleased with the progress in authenticity. The goals were made by digging four holes and put the posts in them. The crossbars were more difficult, as they also had to be removable, in order to take the goals, in pieces, home each day to avoid theft or vandalism. They solved the problem by nailing small boards onto the ends of the crossbars, keeping them in place from all directions, when they rested on top of the upright posts. None of the youngsters was old enough to realize that their goalposts had a potentially fatal design and/or construction flaw. That came to light one day, during a hotly contested game. The keeper of the opposing side was great in stopping even the most difficult shots. One of those shots also ended the game. It was on its way to breaking the shutout, but it was not to be. With a flash of action, the keeper flew across the goal mouth, not only knocking the ball away, but also pushing the goalpost to the side, thereby removing the support for the crossbar, which came clattering down on the unfortunate keeper’s head. When he regained his wits, and the fear of severe head trauma had been ruled out, the boys’ fear had given way to howling laughter. Not surprisingly, when the youngster stopped seeing stars, the first words he uttered dealt with the score of the match. He wanted to know if the ball entered the goal. A further indication of youthful indiscretion was manifested when no one made any further inquiries about the condition of the unfortunate boy’s head. Modifications were made to the crossbar by drilling a hole through the bar to allow a spike to penetrate into the top of the vertical goalposts.
van Pelt
Five Brothers and a War
Page 228
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