History
The origins of button football are likely derived from any number of games played with tabs, bottle caps, or coins. The invention of the game using 11 pieces per side with rules simulating football is unclear, though a 6-piece version is known to have originated in Hungary.
In Brazil, the patron of button football is widely accepted as Geraldo Décourt. He began playing in 1922 as a schoolboy, using buttons removed from his clothing as pieces. Décourt published the first known rule and guide book in 1930. He named the game “Celotex”, after the material which covered the tables on which it was played. Décourt continued to promote the game and organize tournaments on and off for the rest of his life.
In 1962 the Federação Paulista de Futebol de Mesa (Paulista Federation of Button Football) was formed. To date there are dozens of formalized button football societies and leagues in every region of Brazil. Likewise in Hungary, button football can be traced back to the early 1900's, with schoolboys taking the buttons off their coats to play. In Hungary, button football is played everywhere from organized leagues and tournaments to home made football tables and playgrounds.
Button football continued to grow in popularity, especially during the early 50's. At that time, various materials were used for linesmen, some industrial, some hand-made. Industrial buttons could be ten-pieces sets, uniform in size and color, or sold as individual pieces, varying in size according to function (larger ones for defenders, mid-sized ones for midfielders, smaller ones for attackers) and in several layered color combinations usually but not necessarily patterned after the more popular soccer teams; of the latter, the most prized ones were made of galalite, although several other plastic materials were also used such as the covers of discarded watches.
Hand-made buttons were usually made from coconut shells, horn or bone sections and similar materials. Industrial buttons often went through some extent of "tuning", such as scraping or slicing off layers or trimming playing edges. The same was done to pieces such as bus tokens, atop which clothes buttons were glued. Goal tenders were most often than not matchboxes about 6 by 4 cm filled with molten lead slabs for stability.
As a rule, in informal games and tournaments players could mix and match different kinds, sizes and color buttons. Later on, the game became more strictly formalized, dispensing with variety for the sake of standardization. Today there are dozens of button football clubs throughout Brazil and Hungary, rigidly structured, with regular tournaments at the local, state, and national level. The majority of boys (and to a lesser extent girls) in both these countries play button football at some point in their youth.
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