Childhood Football Memories – Lifundo!

 Story based on comments of people from an earlier post by Lepatron Arap Munjur

During our childhood days, football was played with a special homemade ball called Lifundo or "Mpira ya Makaratasi." The ball was made of plastic paper, so players were cautioned to be careful not to use “nails” or “Makucha” else they would tear it. A small stone would sometimes be added inside the ball to make it a little heavier. There was always one person who made the ball, and that was the ball "owner." It was important to stay loyal to the ball owner if you wanted to play. If you didn't, you risked not being included in the game.
The game was played at school or in village playgrounds, and it was played without shoes The number of players on each team could be more or less than the usual 22. There were no strict rules about balancing the teams, so sometimes one side would have 14 players while the other side had only 9. Teams could even be switched during the game!
The ball owner had a lot of power in the game. They decided who would be on each team and their team always had to win. If you injured the ball owner, you couldn't play anymore. The ball owner also acted as the referee, and their decisions were final. If a team got three corners, it led to a penalty. The ball owner even decided when the game would end, especially when their team was winning.
There were some funny moments in the games too. Sometimes, the bigger guys (fat ones) were asked to be goalkeepers because of their size. The games had countless goals, sometimes as many as 400, and there was no set time limit for the game; it only ended when the ball owner got tired or decided to stop the game at will.

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