Kerbie was a summer favourite at the High Wall and Summerhall Square was a natural ampitheatre for such a fine game, wi it's wide cul-de-sac road and well spaced pavements.
There wis next tae nae through traffic as well, so a game could be played withoot too much interruption.
The origins of kerbie are unknown but a quick deek at google shows that it springs up all over the U.K in the '70s. Like aw guid games aw ye needed wis a fitba and a street. Fling the baw at the kerb and try tae catch the rebound, Simple. Of course you could add yer ain wee nuances, oor favourite being that ye had tae throw like you were takin' a shy at fiba.
Some boy fae Fife has even made a 21st century version of Kerbie that ye can buy and play in the safety of yer ain garden, ( probably so as yer bairns dinnae git run ower or snatched by paedos). Now tae me that is just takin' things way too far. No just that, but he's wantin' aboot 70 sheets for it. I kid ye not.
Bounceback 21 Aye, I would bounce the boy back if he tried tae sell me that right enough.
£70. He's "at the hurry up" that lad. No just that, but ye can easy enough make yer ain if ye live next door tae Gary Glitter and are frettin' aboot the bairns. Just get reclaimed kerbstanes fir aboot £6 a foot or a couple o' railway sleepers fir between £10 tae £20 a pop oan eBay. A baw costs aboot £2. Job done
Then I found this story fae Kilsyth as well. Ah dinnae ken.
That's the problem wi oor world nooadays, too many rules and no enough content folk.
I bet there are bairns in the favelas o' Sao Paulo and the backstreets o' Mumbai who still play their ain version o' kerbie, and ah bet they play it wi the true spirit o' the game as well.
2 comments:
Ah wiz nivvir keen oan fitba bit ah wiz aye game fir a roond oh kirbie.
Ah must admit the whole point o playin wiz fir ye tae be ootside! Whit the fuck is goin oan when yir bairns ur gittin an ASBO fir playin ootside wi a ball? As fir the troublemaker sellin "bounceback 21" es goat the cheek tae call it the latest game on the market, ma erse! The boys needin a good bounce alright.
The world o the High Wall wiz a better place. If ye overstepped the mark ye goat a shot up the side oh yir heid. Even the polis gave ye a kick up the erse, ah should ken cause it wiz me thit goat the maest oh thum.But nae bairns wir gettin punished fir bein bairns! What a fucked up wolrd wir in!
Aye, I have some fond memories of playing kirbie during yon long, hot days of the summer holidays.
We had loads of improvised games back in the day. Long before the Net, computer games or Play Sations, all you needed was a ball and a wee bit of imagination.
And then there were other games a wee bit like kirbie. The was: knifey, brickie, and I think a game using roof slates. Aye, who needs computer games when you can invent a great wee game wi a found object and yer imagination!
Cheers!
Arkos
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