Alejandro Finisterre or Alexandre de Fisterra (born Alexandre Campos Ramírez; 6 May 1919 – 9 February 2007) is known as the inventor of ''futbolín'', a Spanish variant of

table football Table football, also known as foosball, table soccer, futbolito in Mexico, Taca Taca in Chile and Metegol in Argentina is a table-top game that is loosely based on association football. The aim of the game is to move the ball into the opponen ...

(aka foosball). He was also a poet, publisher and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

Biography

He was born Alexandre Campos Ramírez in 1919 to the radio-telegraphist at the

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses m ...

in Fisterra. He was injured when Franco's fascist forces bombed

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

in November 1936 and had the idea for a football game while in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

recovering. While convalescing in

Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with roughly of coastline. It is n ...

he realized that he and his fellow wounded Republicans would never play football again and he had the idea for the table game. He patented his invention in Barcelona in 1937 and he also patented a foot-pedal that lets musicians turn the pages of their scores.

References

1919 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Spanish inventors 20th-century Spanish poets Spanish anarchists Spanish male poets Spanish publishers (people) {{Anarchist-stub