This week marks a rather obscure anniversary in the history of an oft-neglected piece of football equipment.
Goal nets were first used in football 110 years ago on 23rd March 1891. It was, however, many years before they were universally adopted, and the Laws of the Game still do not make them compulsory. Law 1 merely says that 'nets may be attached to the goals'. Their use is all down to competition rules.
When I started refereeing in the 1950s, locally it was only in the Premier Division of the Reading League that goal nets were compulsory. You might think that they are such a good idea that all clubs would have had them even when not forced to do so. There was, however, a difference in price between a pitch with nets or without, and in those days every penny counted.
I must say that I viewed a match with trepidation if I turned up to referee and found that nets were not provided. Unless you were perfectly positioned, it was not always possible to tell whether the ball had crossed outside or inside the goalposts. Very often you would rely on the players and, if both teams agreed, you were all right. If, however, the attacking team thought it went inside and the defenders thought it went outside, then you had to make the judgement of Solomon.
You might think that now that all grounds have goal nets, even in the lower divisions, the referee's problems would be at an end, but not so. There was an incident some years ago that reverberated around the local leagues for many weeks. It was claimed that one of the town's best known referees of the time, had missed a goal because the ball went through a large hole in the net.
After that I adopted a policy that led to many people making jokes about me
still being a Boy Scout. In the Scouts we were taught to be prepared by always carrying a piece of string, a penknife and a sixpence. Sixpence (2½p) wouldn't get you very far today but a piece of string and a penknife have enabled me to repair many holes in nets which I have found during my pre-match inspections. And I do mean many.
Today many referees emulate my precautions for they also take along plastic electricians ties to fix nets firmly to goalposts and tent pegs to peg the netting to the ground. The law says that any nets must not only be attached to the goals but also to the ground behind the goal.
You might think that all our troubles are at local grounds but you can't always rely on the more senior clubs to check that the nets are up to standard. I remember refereeing Swindon 'A' team some years ago when there were so many holes in the nets that I used up all my ball of string. Only last season I was officiating at a Reading Reserves friendly match at their training ground when I arrived to find that the nets hung straight down from the cross bars.
The ruling under the law is that nets may be attached to the goals provided that they are properly supported and do not interfere with the goalkeeper. I had to dig out the groundsman to produce some supports.
Of course all these little precautions by referees are never appreciated, in fact sometimes even the reverse. I remember in my Isthmian League days, inspecting the netting at Oxford City about three quarters of an hour before the game. There were a few spectators already on the terraces and one shouted out, 'I hope you are half as bloody keen when the game starts'.
You soon learn as a referee that you can never do anything that pleases supporters. That at least hasn't changed in the last 110 years.
Dick Sawdon Smith