In November 1936 during the Spanish civil war, Alejandro Finisterre was buried under rubble by a bomb. Left lame, he and his mutilated fellow patients in a convalescent home in Montserrat, Catalonia, faced a future unable to play football (soccer).
He explained: "As I liked table-tennis, I thought, why not invent table football?"
He found a carpenter to construct the table and carve the figures and, on the advice of a local anarchist, patented his invention in Barcelona in 1937.
Almost 65 years later Finisterre's invention enabled Tom Scharpling to unequivocally dominate the entire WFMU DJ roster over the Foosball table.
RIP Alejandro Finisterre 1919 - 2007.
