Match of the Day - Week 5

Match of the Day previews a fixture this weekend through 30-year eyes...

It's West Brom v West Ham from the Hawthorns in 1986.

A 5-goal thriller and classic Continental D's.

Enjoy.

UEFA Champions League - Steaua Bucuresti

Most veterans of the European Cup era would remember Steaua as 1986 Champions, and may just recall the 1986 final. After an infamous 120 minutes of football, Barcelona famously failed to score any of their penalties in the resultant shoot out.




Goal nets fans may choose to remember Steaua for the gorgeous sloping stanchions at their old Stadionul Steaua.

UEFA European Championships - France 1984

1984 was Michele Platini's tournament, scoring nine goals in four of the seven host stadia:







Nantes



Saint Etienne



In the Final, against Spain in Paris



And most famously in the last minute of extra time in the semi final against Portugal in Marseille



The goal nets at each of the seven stadia were uniformly coloured - mostly black - and free-hanging and were the classically French - the same style can be seen at the inaugural Championship 24 years earlier.

As part of the McDonaldization of the game at the 1986 World Cup, FIFA decided goal nets everywhere would look the same so today, the goal nets at France 1984 are a period piece, the last time you could watch a game at a major Championship and pick where the game was being played by the design of the nets.

 One last look at those in Lyon...

Off the stanchions at Wembley - Ian Rush

Looking back, it was amazing how many International and Cup final goals scored at old Wembley hit the stanchions, and how extra memorable those goals are, as a result.

The first goal in this Friday series is Ian Rush's second from the 1986 Cup final versus Everton. This goal was later immortalised when included in BBC Grandstand's opening sequence.

Big Ones

A friend of ours on Facebook messaged us to say he liked big nets. (He also likes these peculiarities at Ipswich Town circa 1995, but that's for another post.) In goalnets, since the height and width of the goal is fixed, the X-factor in big-ness is the depth of the nets; how far they're extended behind the goal-line. We thought we'd compile a by-no-means-exhaustive top-5 of big nets.

#5 - Mexico '86

If you were to consider that the impact of ball on net, and the aftershock on ball and net, is what makes for a truly memorable goal, you easily reach the conclusion that the recent World Cup was so drab because the goalnets were made of trampoline and the theatre of ball hitting net was akin to kicking a ball against a brick wall. Not so, Mexico '86...



#4 - New Wembley

Where the old goalnets were classic and sublime, these are ridiculous and crass and seem to scream, "Look where the billion pounds went."



#3 - FC Porto

You got a big stadium? Get yourself some big nets.



#2 - Old Hampden

The Godzilla of goalnets.



#1 - Barcelona, late 80's

Long before tiki-taka, Barcelona's claim to fame was having the world's biggest goalnets.



Which are your favourite Big Ones?

World Cups - Mexico 1986

A dirty backroom deal awarded Mexico its second tournament in only sixteen years and gave FIFA a TV on which to broadcast to the world that at the end of the 20th century they wanted football to be like McDonalds - anywhere you went in the world, it'd all be the same.



The enormous free-hanging box-nets installed at each stadium were not only a re-statement that the goals first seen in the 1974 tournament, were the first-class, on-field architecture of choice for the future. They also marked the beginning of the era of football as a brand on global TV. Previously you could sight the goalnets on TV and identify which stadium the game was being played in. After Mexico '86, it was possible only to glance up and say, "It's football."