Golden Balls - Beckham & my very first pair of sneakers

There isn’t a lot to the story of my first pair of sneakers.

But they stick out to me because they were the first pair of shoes that I bought specifically to play soccer or futsal in.

Before that, I had just been playing in runners, which to be fair, were not built to be kicking a soccer ball around.

So after asking for weeks on end, my parents finally caved and brought me to the local DFO - Direct Factory Outlet. It’s the kinda spot where like brands would have all their excess or end-of-season stock for sale. It’s like a weird, echoey building with heaps of stores; but it feels empty at the same time.

Think, the closet where brands go and hide their skeletons in.

But, my parents were not in the business of buying me super expensive sneakers.

And credit to them, I would not have taken that much care of them back in my youth.

So we arrived at the only shoe spot in DFO and perused the shelves for anything that caught my eye.

All the stock looked sad and grey, withering away at the back of the outlet.

I was about to walk away from it all before a pair caught my eye.

At the very bottom of the wall, were a pair of golden lotto shoes - similar to the ones pictured below but shinier and more golden.

Mine were better looking, but you get the picture.

I was immediately taken to their flash.

My favourite players all had a bit of flash; David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Eric Cantona. They had the showman in them - and if you ask anyone about how I played when I was younger, showman would definitely be a description.

I’d do tricks for the sake it.

Wink at other players as I went past.

Chat shit to the opposition bench.

The list goes on.

I can confidently say I was the first kid in school with futsal shoes.

It took awhile before everyone realised that sneakers specifically tailored for soccer would improve your game - even if it was just in your head.

It took everyone a little longer to embrace the flash; now futsal shoes are a myriad of colours.

I went on to own futsal shoes in purple, green, blue, red - you name it, I had it.

I’ve very much mellowed out since then.

David Beckham had a nickname, Golden Balls, when he was still kicking around. My family would adopt that nickname for the gold sneakers that would soon adorn the shoe cabinet for years to come.

I wish I had a photo of them. I wore them so much eventually they just broke down and I had to throw them out.

I did win a couple of junior futsal titles in them though.

I guess gold is really for the champs.