Goal Nets

This article was generously provided to ClubFootball by the British Council, which operates in China as the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy.

It's in the net! What finer sight is there than the ripple of the net as a goal is scored? Even the sound of the leather skimming across the nylon is tantalising. Yet, when football was first played, there were no nets. This led to arguments as to whether a goal had been scored or not, until a Liverpool engineer, John Alexander Brodie, decided to design 'a huge pocket' for the goal.
 
The world's first footballer ever to 'put the ball in back of the net' was Geary of Everton, at a trial game in Nottingham, England, in January 1891. The referee that day, incidentally, was Sam Widdowson, the man who invented shinpads.
 
Brodie went on to develop several other inventions and complete engineering works across Britain, Spain and India. But he always said that goalnets were his finest achievement. And who are we to disagree?

May 2001