Blether: Do you remember playing with a ‘tanner-ba’ in the cobbled streets of Dundee?

There is no doubt Scotland’s football heritage was founded on cobbled streets and bare patches of land.

Anywhere a few jumpers could be put down as goalposts would do.

Rob Boag, in his usual descriptive hand, sets the scene from a very early age.

“When I was three years of age, my family moved from a garret on Atholl Street, Lochee, to a two-room house at 3 Kincardine Street,” said Rob, now resident in Canada.

“There I spent my formative years with my pals Lawrie Boag, Brian Flynn and Harry Smith, before moving back in 1950 to the Lochee area of Dryburgh.

“Kincardine Street ran south to north from Hawkhill to Blackness Road.

“It was a typical cobbled industrial Dundee street, with tenements on either side which did their best to block any sunshine that came the city’s way.

“A blade of grass couldn’t be seen for miles around.

“I can’t recall the first kick of a ball, but I do remember the small type of rubber ball we played with, sometimes called a ‘tanner ba’.

“The ‘pitches’ were flagstone backies, cement playgrounds or dirt-packed patches.

“The ball never went out of play as tenement and factory walls were the touchlines.

“I recall a lad by the name of Jimmy Forbes.

“Jimmy lived on Blackness Road, around the corner from Kincardine Street, and when Jimmy dribbled (remember the great Scottish art of dribbling?) with that tanner ba, it was as if some magnetic field prevented the ball from leaving his feet.

“Did we lose something from Scotland’s game when we lost the tanner-ba players?”

Rob continued: “One day — I think it was in 1946 — I don’t know where it came from, it didn’t seem to have an owner, we all took responsibility for it!

“It was a real leather football — commonly known then as a tub, and more deflated than inflated.

“The laces were broken and knotted, and the leather scarred, battered and arid.

“Dubbin was found and restoration began.

“There was a long stem from the inner tube that was used to inflate the ball. When we thought the pressure was good, a piece of string was tied around the stem, then pushed under the leather cover.

“We then did our best to tie the lace, so it was smooth with the circumference of the ball.

“I believe we challenged the lads from Balfour Street to a game, and the ball was introduced to a cinder surface pitch at the Coup on Riverside Drive.

“I can’t remember the score, but I’m claiming victory for the Kincardine team.

“And, after that game — and every other one — the same care went into that leather ball.

“Maintenance of the old leather football was a craft in its own right.”