Why it's important... #2

Not buying the idea of the goal celebration ritual, and the vital part the goalnets play in retaining the ball? Consider the one occasion when the goal celebration is deliberately cut short.

Late in the game, a side that's a goal or two down scores a goal and the goalscorer hurries to retrieve the ball from the net so they can get the game re-started quickly. See Brian McClair in the clip below.



McClair breaks the goal celebration ritual by not allowing the pause that follows the goal.

Without the pause, the goal is not properly celebrated. McClair runs past his colleagues, shaking hands etc.

McClair's goal is not properly celebrated because he has removed the ball from the goalnets.

Goalnets and Ball Retention #4 - Two rockets!

The goalnets at the modern-day Stamford Bridge have some of the poorest ball-retaining properties in football. Boxes made of trampoline, stretched taut by a bottom net support which runs a mere metre behind the goal line, make for goals with poor aesthetics and even worse ball retention. Consider these examples:

Johnny Metgod's rocket hits the bar and goes in



While Alex's rocket goes in - but rebounds out like it's hit the bar

Goalnets and ball retention #4

Anyone who might think goalnets are a random afterthought in football should peel their eyes away from Lionel Messi for a moment and take a peek at the goalnets at La Romareda.

Stuck with the free-hanging design, the Zaragoza groundsman has constructed a support system which cleverly alters the square box shape of the net into a more traditional sloping A-shape. This shape helped retain the ball at the goal.


Clearly the Zaragoza groundsman has put as much work into his craft as Lionel Messi has.

Goalnets and ball retention #3

A previously discussed, the square shape of the box-net is unhelpful in retaining the ball once a goal has been scored.

Another factor to consider in ball retention is the modern bottom net support.

Nets used to be pegged into the ground. When a ball hit the net, the net would pull on the peg. In even the tautest of nets, there would be a little 'give' in the net, helping the net retain the ball.

However the bottom net support - basically a thin tube of steel that is fitted along the bottom of the back of the net -means the net is an entity entirely of itself. The only 'give' there could possibly be has to be within the net and support structure. As we have seen, the nets are often stretched as tightly as possible.



The bottom net support is practical. According to the manufacturer of the goals at Wembley, the bottom net support folds to enable ground maintenance so the net can be raised for cutting the grass, as in the photo to the left.

But the bottom net support is helping to kill the aesthetics of the ball hitting the back of the net.

The History of Goalnets says bring back the pegs. It's a small price to pay for beauty.

Goalnets and ball retention #2

Back in the day, a ball once scored used to nestle beautifully in the net -



I reviewed every goal in the Champions League R16 and studied the goals from last weekend's EPL and despaired that not one ball scored into the goalnet stayed in the net.

Stanchions were outlawed and free-hanging box-nets were introduced to put an end to things like this -



But the square box-net design - which has no slope in the back of the net to trap the ball - means the ball nearly always rebounds off the back of the net after a goal's been scored. This doesn't mean there is likely to ever be a Goal That Never Was from a rebound, but it does fly contrary to the manufacturer's assurance that free-hanging net supports are

UEFA/FIFA regulation, designed to suspend the net and eliminate rebounds.

The rebounds also affect the simple but glorious aesthetics of scoring a goal.

A goal may have many pleasing aesthetic qualities: the ball off the boot; the ball swerving in the air; the goalkeeper's despairing dive; but none is more important than the effect the ball has on the back of the net.

At the new Wembley the cavernous nets are stretched taut.



Goals scored in this once legendary stadium are sadly transformed into the aesthetic equals of goals scored into nets chalked on a wall in the schoolyard.

Uniform goalnets are producing uniform goal scoring aesthetics.