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The Game of Doors
Chris Robson explains the game of doors and how it taught him a lot about life.
Chris Robson grew up in Newcastle, and the streets he grew up in all had houses that led on to back lanes that were perfect for playing games. These back lanes were very narrow - and were no use for playing football, so Chris and his friends played the game of doors, which was a game of elimination.
Chris explains: "we'd all pick one back door which we'd claim as our own, the ball would be thrown into the air and then a fairly ruthless game of elimination would then take place, and if you had a goal scored against you you were out of the game. This resulted in some very interesting shifting relationships during the game. You would discover that one or two of you would have a common interest in trying to keep the ball away from your area, so almost without any formal agreement they would be playing on your side. And you'd pass the ball to them to share a common goal and put other people out of the game, only to find they'd score in your empty goal and you would be out of the game. It was ruthless."
So what about the idea that this game taught Chris some of the rules of life.
Chris says of the game that "it illustrated the fickle nature of human relations... people that you once thought were close allies and shared a common purpose would suddenly turn against you. On the other hand there were people who would be least expected to give you assistance, often members of your own family who were traditional rivals, they would suddenly find that they were cooperating with you."
"It was a rare thing in family life in my day to find that my brother and I had common interests but it did happen and it proved good grounding for adult life."
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