When I left school for the world of work, I was offered a job at the
Reading Standard, a weekly predecessor of the Evening
Post. However, as I couldn't find the work I wanted, I opted instead for a job with the local brewery, enticed by the fact that it was only a five and half day week. This meant that I could play football on Saturday afternoons - no Sunday football in those days. The brewery also offered an extra
12s 6d a week.
My job entailed accounting for the casks in which the brewery distributed its beer by brewer's dray. To prevent the casks rolling off the decks of the drays, there were upright poles linked with chains. The chains looped over twisted pointed metal hooks on the poles so they could be removed quickly and easily. The problem was, however, that if a drayman jumped down from the lorry deck holding on to the pole, he could catch his wedding ring in the hook as he jumped. I knew more than one three fingered drayman.
I recall this horror story only to illustrate what the FA is trying to
prevent with its latest instructions on the safety of goalposts and more obviously crossbars.
Nets are almost always compulsory these days, although the Law only says they MAY be attached. It is the
competition's rules that insist on them being used and a good thing too from a referee's point of view.
For many years the most common way to fix nets to the crossbar was by a series of cup-hooks along the back, on which the net could hang. What's worrying the FA's legal department is that the hooks could result, when rings are worn, in finger entrapment, as was the case on the brewer's drays. They are also concerned that they could cause injuries if caught in other jewellery such as an eye ring or necklace, which is very unlikely during the game, as all such jewellery is banned on the field of play.
We have to remember, however, that at many local grounds, nets have to be fixed and/or removed by club officials or even players. At one of the games I refereed last week, the players had to put the nets up and take them down after the game. Often they do this without any equipment, jumping up to loop the nets over the hooks, so it can be seen that there is some danger involved.
I might add that at my game they weren't trying to fix the nets to cup-hooks. These had been replaced, as is the case at many grounds, with plastic arrow-headed hooks, which conform to current safety standards. I have noticed however that these arrow-heads seem to break easily which doesn't make them dangerous but means the nets hang down and need taping to the crossbar. Modern goalposts have other, safe, secure ways of fixing the nets.
All clubs who still have cup-hooks on their
crossbars need to be aware that they will be completely banned from all levels of the game, from the start of the 2007/08 season.
In the meantime, between now and the end of this season, what happens if a referee gets to a ground and find that cup-hooks are still in use? Should the games be abandoned as has happened at a couple of games? Not necessarily.The instruction from the FA is that the referee must make both teams aware of the situation. If they are then prepared to play, having had it pointed out to them, the FA are happy that the referee has done what might be considered reasonable.
I have to say that in all my years in football, I have never experienced an incident where anyone has been injured due to cup-hooks but no doubt those three-fingered draymen would have been
happy if someone had banned those hooks on the drays - before they lost their fingers.
Dick
Sawdon Smith