workingclasshistory:

On this day, 6 May 1919, Alejandro Finisterre, anarchist poet and inventor of the Spanish version of table football or “foosball” was born. His political idealism seemed to be realised with the outbreak of the revolution in 1936 which defeated the military rising of general Franco.
However his house was bombed by nationalist forces and he was severely injured. Seeing many injured children who were unable to play football with their friends, he built a table out of pine and attached players to steel bars - inventing the modern version of table football commonly played in Spain.
After the war he had to flee the Franco regime to France, and was imprisoned for four years in Morocco before heading to the Americas.
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