You could put Frank Worthington's picture in the dictionary under the word laconic. With a skill so great, Frank needed few words of explanation (though he did write an autobiography, the hilarious One Hump or Two).
In his 1979 goal of the season contender for Bolton Wanderers versus Ipswich Town, the goal nets too go all laconic.
Yes, if they were of 2016 vintage, the goal nets could have responded to Frank's wonderful keepy-uppy and volley by making a big noise and springing a rebound round three sides of the goal before jettisoning the ball to the penalty spot.
However the old, laconic Burnden Park A-frames are happy to kill the shot behind the line which requires the beaten goalkeeper to walk the walk and retrieve the ball. The game is paused in this time and Frank's magnificent skill can be celebrated properly.
You probably thought it was done, but there's still life in the old 101 Great Goals series.
Three wonderful things about John Metgod's legendary free kick for Nottingham Forest immediately spring to mind;
The 100 metres run-up (which gave the hint something special was about to be unleashed;
The Exocet trajectory of the shot;
John Metgod's celebration.
As our focus is the goal nets, I'd like to add a fourth wonderful thing - the simple physics of a traditionally hung and supported goal net killing the shot and retaining the ball.
The West Ham goalkeeper Phil Parkes is beaten - humiliated - and when he finally gets up, he still has the walk of shame to retrieve the ball from the net.
To mark this week's International friendly between Italy and England in Turin, a quick look back at the remarkable history of Italian goal nets in this fixture.
Remember the premise behind the 101 Great Goals series?
What constitutes a Great Goal? As this is The History of Goal Nets, simply any goal can be considered Great if we enjoyed the aesthetics of ball striking net so much that we are moved to nominate that goal.
With this in mind, the next goal I'd like to study in terms of a greatness perceived immediately by the commentary and sold into folklore is Steven Gerrard's against Olympiakos.
In terms of technique and ball placement, the Gerrard goal is remarkably similar to the vastly underrated Graeme Souness goal v Manchester City (at 6.04) below.
The difference is, though scored in the Champions League, Gerrard's goal is pure EPL in terms of hyperbole.
Two things have conspired to transform a good Gerrard goal into a wonder strike.
Firstly, the aesthetics of the goal. Most pertinent for us who understand how the aesthetics of ball striking net can affect how a goal is rated, Gerrard's shot rebounded ridiculously off the software like a ball in pinball machine.
That's right - off the software - as there wasn't an atom of aluminium within a metre of the corner of the net.
Rebounds off the hardware can be ridiculously spectacular.
But as always argued that rebounds off 21st century box-nets pulled taut and made of trampoline are simply ridiculous and are ruining the aesthetics of the game.
Then there's the commentary from Andy Gray, which has become almost as famous as the goal itself. Though it must be remembered he was there to sell "product," it must rate as highly doubtful that the Souness goal - which rebounded normally off the A-frame - would elicit such an immediate response from the commentator.
If you think it unlikely that the legend of Stevie G is down to poor ball retention at Anfield, ask yourself, does anyone remember the Graeme Souness shot which was the exact same goal without the rebound?
You get a better, albeit brief, glimpse of them here, in 1935.
By the 1960's, the Hammers had installed a classic set of A-frames.
The skinny curved stanchions of yore were installed in the 1967/68 season.
And so commenced the glory years of spectacular rebounds out of the Boleyn goal nets, till the appearance of box nets in the aftermath of the Spain 1982 World Cup.
Arena das Dunas in the Brazilian region of Rio Grande do Norte will host four FIFA World Cup 2014 matches and thereafter be the home stadium - and derby day venue - for bitter Natal rivals, America Futebol Clube (RN) and ABC Futebol Clube.
However, consider the wonderful diversity locally available to the two Natal clubs, and all that's been lost to the game and the 2014 World Cup by the installation of the homogenous boxnets.
Before the Timao decamp this weekend to the FIFA World Cup 2014 venue Arena Corinthians (they're slated to play Figueirense on 18 May in the first competitive game at the new stadium), let's look back at the club's history of fantastic goals and wonderful goal nets at their old ground, Pacaembu.
Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba - a city in the exact centre of South America - is a new stadium which will host four matches during FIFA World Cup 2014. The stadium is complete and opened recently, with the obligatory boxnets at either end.
Arena Pantanal replaces Estadio Governador Jose Fragelli, nicknamed Verdao (and home to three clubs, including Mixto Esporte Clube).
A better link to Cuiaba and Brazil's footballing past would have been for FIFA to maintain the traditional L-supports that once graced either end of the old stadium.
Bahia play at the utterly charmless FIFA World Cup 2014 venue, Arena Fonte Nova.
Arena Fonte Nova replaced the old Estadio Fonte Nova, which had a great deal more character and, during the 1980's and 90's a tremendous set of A-frames at either end of the field.
Further back in Bahia's History of Goal Nets, native Brazilian L-supports were the method of choice for supporting the nets at Fonte Nova.
With FIFA World Cup 2014 almost upon us, The History of Goalnets celebrates the start of the new Brazilian Serie A season by visiting the Serie A stadia and checking out the on-field architecture at each.
Until recently, Brazil was one of the only countries left in world football which rebelled against this era of uniform and homogenous box-nets, and where the native system deployed to support the nets - L-supports, in Brazil's case - could still be seen.
As the World Cup has crept closer, and the focus of the game's global policeman FIFA has sharpened, so the native L-supports have largely been replaced. But not all...
When the World Cup final is played at Estadio do Maracana on 13 July, you can be sure the nets will be firmly tied back and hang like square tents that can't be differentiated from those in Munich 1974, Mexico City 1986, and the last four, utterly uniform, World Cup finals.
However, when Fluminense kicked off their 2014 season at Maracana last weekend, the nets were hanging in the shape of L-supports. OK, the hardware has been shorn of the actual L-supports, so the nets are still tied to stanchions, like box nets. Interestingly the ground staff have chosen to tie the nets so they're shaped like classic L-supports.
Can a penalty be a great goal? It can be, when it's the greatest penalty ever taken.
For all it's audacity and courage, it's worth considering the aesthetic effect the Belgrade Continental D's which smothered the shot, have played in making this penalty so memorable.
Compare and contrast with the following Panenka penalties:
ZIDANE
Zidane's penalty, 5 minutes into the 2006 World Cup final is certainly audacious, but has the ball not striking net reduced it's impact on the collective memory?
PIRLO
Much of the commentary resulting from Pirlo's peerless kick focused on Joe Hart sprawled on his backside rather than the kick itself. Might this have something to do with the ball hitting the net like a ball against a wall in training?
Though 101 Great Goals is primarily concerned with the aesthetic added to a great goal by the ball striking the net, it may also from time to time consider a great goal, the aesthetics of which have been soured by the on-field architecture.
Gerry Francis' superb goal on the opening day of the 1975/76 season against Liverpool heralded the arrival of an exciting QPR side and was as much a statement of intent as Roberto Bettega's similar goal at the 1978 World Cup.
But the similarities of the goals ends when the ball hits the net.
The L-supports at el Monumental afforded Bettega's goal maximum ball retention and, with the ball dead in the net, the Argentine crowd and the watching audience at home are given time to reflect on a great goal, a great Italian performance and the host nation Argentina facing defeat.
When the stanchions at the old Loftus Road, notoriously planted mere inches behind the goal line, deflect Gerry Francis' shot immediately back into the field of play, they deny Gerry Francis and QPR (and Liverpool) that same moment of reflection. Yes, it was still a great goal, but could QPR maintain their challenge? Or would they, like the ball flashing in and out of the goal, be a flash in the pan?
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Despite losing this opening game of the season Liverpool won the 1975/76 league title.
Even after you set aside all the externals surrounding this game - with the Italians successfully facing down the Junta, the rabid River Plate crowd and an admittedly still misfiring Albiceleste - this is still an amazing goal.
It's all there...
The 1-2 with Paolo Rossi...
The drill of a shot into the bottom corner...
Maximum ball retention by the World Cup '78 L-supports TM
Perhaps with 101 Great Goals in mind for the future, I posted the below on Eder in August 2012. Here it is in full again.
The Brazil side at the 1982 World Cup is historically viewed as the successor to the wonderful title-winning side of 1970, so it is fitting that, since our first Iconic Goal has come to represent Brazil at the first Mexico World Cup, so our second iconic goal has come to symbolise the side 12 years later at the World Cup in Spain.
Brazil netted 15 gems at the '82 finals, the Beau Sancy among them being Eder's winner versus the Soviet Union.
The beauty of the goal is in it's simplicity, from Falcao's outrageous school-yard dummy to Eder's keepy-up and sublime half volley. It looks more like a training routine than Brazil's opening World Cup game.
How do the goal nets contribute to this goal's place in the Pantheon of Iconic Goals?
Yet, while the nets soured Socrates' magnificent equaliser, scored 10 minutes earlier, the "training wall" nets amplify the ease, simplicity and Joga Bonito of Eder's winner, raising it to the status of the Iconic.
