Keepy-Uppy
Meaning
The skill of ball-juggling to keep a ball in the air for as long as possible by bouncing it off any part of the body that is allowed in the rules of football, i.e., any part except the hands and arms. Typically, the ball is kept up using the feet and head.
Origin
Many of the phrases that are explained on this site have origins definitively locating them in the United Kingdom. In keeping with England being, obviously, the source of English, in most cases those phrases are old. In this case though the phrase is quite recent and the source is the north of the UK – Scotland.
The game is similar to other ball games but the version specifically known as keepy-uppy (or keepy- uppie) began in Scotland in the post WWII period. The pastime is one that footballers have long used to develop their skill and football’s greatest player, Pelé, was especially adept at the game – called then Freestyle Football. It becomes harder to keep the ball in the air using a smaller ball.
The Argentinian star Diego Maradona was renowned for ball juggling with a golf ball. He also used to entertain football crowds at half-time with the Maradona 7, a juggling skill using just the right foot, then left foot, then right and left thighs, then shoulders, and finally just the head.
