The Football Pools

Do these still exist? i remember every Thursday night about 6.30 a man knocking the door with a giant leather sack filled with change and my Dad paying him and handing in a spot the ball sheet and another one with football fixtures on, you had to mark certain ones with a x i never understood how it actually worked.
I always remeber my Dad watching the football results after the wrestling on a Saturday afternoon telling me and my sister to be quiet while he checked the results, he never won sod all either, i remeber him gettin 50p one week that was it.

[HG]

Re: The Football Pools

Yeah they still exist but nowhere near as popular as they used to be with the extension of betting and online betting. You had to try and guess score draws if I remember correctly and you'd get points for them and if you matched the points dividend you'd win.

I too remember the weekly Thursday night knock and being ssshhed during the results and also the fact my dad never won.

My gran used to do spot the ball for some reason, i remember helping her with i when I was young, not that it did much good. I did know somebody however who won £50,000 on spot the ball.

[Richard1978]

Re: The Football Pools

I remember How Do They Do That? showing how Spot The Ball puzzles are made.

My local paper used to have one each week, with a different amount for the total number of X's used.

[darren]

Re: The Football Pools

wow 50 grand.

i never did the pools nor did anyone in my house growing up.
although a few uncles did it.

i did try spot the ball but never got close to getting it right.
was fun trying.

you say mate you knew someone who won 50 grand did they have to get it spot on perfect.

reason i ask is if you get it within a certain distance or closer you will get some sort of cash prize.

Yeah they still exist but nowhere near as popular as they used to be with the extension of betting and online betting. You had to try and guess score draws if I remember correctly and you'd get points for them and if you matched the points dividend you'd win.

I too remember the weekly Thursday night knock and being ssshhed during the results and also the fact my dad never won.

My gran used to do spot the ball for some reason, i remember helping her with i when I was young, not that it did much good. I did know somebody however who won £50,000 on spot the ball.

[Trickyvee]

Re: The Football Pools

I was often given the task of spotting the ball, although most of the time I'm sure I probably counted my x'es wrong and voided the form. I always wondered how the winner was determined, always convinced that I must have got it spot on.

[battyrat]

Re: The Football Pools

I used to do the pools...but never followed the football at all.Far too easy to get a lottery ticket these days.Dad used to do spot the ball.Grandad and nan also done the pools and spot the ball.I only had a couple of small wins.Nothing above £30 over a 5 year period.

[dispossessed]

Re: The Football Pools

I used to like playing "Skillball" back in 1989 / 90. I wonder if anyone else remembers this game.

It was like Spot-the-Ball except that there were 9 games per sheet with the photo of each game divided into nine squares. You had to guess which square the ball was in for each game. The forms were then processed at the newsagent on a machine very similar to a modern lottery terminal. You were then given a ticket with your choices printed on it.

Results were announced during a TV ad break on a Saturday night.

Despite TV advertising it seemed to disappear around mid 1990.

I still miss it. Perhaps I should try and get out more.

[Finnthedude]

Re: The Football Pools

The crazy thing about "Spot The Ball" competitions is that you weren't actually determining where the actual ball was in the photograph.

A panel of experts had to decide where the ball was, and whoever guessed closest to that was the winner. The actual, real ball that had been edited out of the picture had no influence on the result at all! The reason for this was due to gambling laws, the real position of the ball was an event that had already happened and you could not bet on an event that had already taken place.

That's what the law used to be. I assume it still applies.

Finnthedude.

[Richard1978]

Re: The Football Pools

As mentioned about I remember How Do They Do That once had a feature on how Spot The Ball was run. As well as the ball being airbrushed out a lot of distracting background detail was removed.

Like the pools prediction panel the ball position was decided by a comittee of ex-players & officials.

Some mail order companies sold rubber stamps with a number of X's on for use on coupons. The rules of the contest in my local paper banned the use of them, only recommending the use of a ball point pen (no pun intended!)

[darren]

Re: The Football Pools

wow i thought u had to work out where the ball was.
there was an actual place it was and you had to guess it.

i thought that for as long as i can remember.

The crazy thing about "Spot The Ball" competitions is that you weren't actually determining where the actual ball was in the photograph.

A panel of experts had to decide where the ball was, and whoever guessed closest to that was the winner. The actual, real ball that had been edited out of the picture had no influence on the result at all! The reason for this was due to gambling laws, the real position of the ball was an event that had already happened and you could not bet on an event that had already taken place.

That's what the law used to be. I assume it still applies.

Finnthedude.

[themilkman]

Re: The Football Pools

The crazy thing about "Spot The Ball" competitions is that you weren't actually determining where the actual ball was in the photograph.

A panel of experts had to decide where the ball was, and whoever guessed closest to that was the winner. The actual, real ball that had been edited out of the picture had no influence on the result at all! The reason for this was due to gambling laws, the real position of the ball was an event that had already happened and you could not bet on an event that had already taken place.

That's what the law used to be. I assume it still applies.

Finnthedude.

No wonder my nan and grandad never won!........they sat there with a ruler following the trejectory(sp) of each players eyes and then just put some crosses in the area where they all converged