New adventures in trainspotting: goal nets

I know I'm not alone in enjoying a good goal at a match, and I'm also sure I'm not alone in feeling that a large part of the excitement of a goal being scored is how the goal and net interact with the ball is it passes over the line. Regardless of the approach play involved, balls that go in off the post or bar, strike some support structure within the goal and either nestle sweetly or bounce back out somehow seem better goals than those which merely cross the line or disappear within a billowing net bag. Alas, the times they are a-changing. Or to be more accurate, they already have changed.

The football goal, is functional yet beautiful and iconic. Oft nicknamed the "onion bag", the football goal is the focal point of either end of a football pitch and without them, the game wouldn't be the same - for that matter, neither would Aberdeen FC's club crest which depicts the side profile of a traditional goal post with a ball in the centre to form an "A". They deserve to be considered stylish and recognised for the part they play in the game, indeed, how they can define a football ground. But, they've never been the same since the mid-80s when the advent of the "box profile net" began to take hold - the 1986 World Cup in Mexico heralding the future of goal nets, although they did make an appearance at the games in the 1974 World Cup in West Germany.

Boxy McBox

With no inner support structures and with cord stretching from the top of each post to a support pole a few yards behind to support the netting, they're another example of how stale the game has become these days. The box net (left) basically provides four faces of a rectangular cuboid of goal net. Exciting at first - something new - but almost too functional to be cool and they don't make for the spectacular finishes described earlier. Fast forward thirty or so years and you now find them at almost every league ground - even some non-league grounds - reacting like a large string vest flouncing around on a washing line on receipt of a thirty yard screamer. And this is the trouble I have, with both the style of net, and the fact they're everywhere. Box nets do of course have their advantages - crisp in appearance and no stanchions to confuse referees - less chance of balls bouncing back out of the goal as if they may have hit the post - but at the same time I feel they're just a bit too clinical.

Wembley's classic long arm, in 1987

The classic styles from yesteryear appear to be long gone. Wembley along with others replaced their long standing 'long arm' stanchion goals for Euro '96 and the elbow loops of countless goals eventually succumbed. Before long, the characterful, shallow and tight backed goal nets of QPR, Southampton, Luton and Liverpool were no more. Slowly but surely, tens of league grounds' goalposts across the country relinquished their charm. In addition, stadia across the land lost part of their charm too.

Varying forms of traditional stanchion can lay claim to being, in some part, responsible for some of the most spectacular goals ever scored. In 1981, loop stanchions gave us Trevor Brooking's memorable England goal, his left footed strike wedging itself in the loop stanchion almost giving the goalkeeper a walk of shame to pluck the ball from the top of the goal. Two years earlier, Glenn Hoddle's screamer at White Hart Lane took full advantage of what I'd call, "a proper goal net".

St James' Park's loops in the '80s

Between the 1960s and mid 1990s, the goals at St James' Park hadn't changed much, elbow loop stanchions with white netting the design of choice on Tyneside. They weren't the most exciting goal post in the world but they contributed to some memorable and spectacular finishes. In 1988, Paul Gascoigne scored a screamer at the Gallowgate end against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup - the ball clipping the underside of the bar and bobbling in the loop. In fact, he pretty much repeated the feat in the next round at home to Swindon with a sublime, placed shot into the top corner (30 seconds in), and of course, we must mention Malcolm MacDonald's debut goal -the first of his debut hat-trick - at home to Liverpool in '71 which was placed right in the top corner. Beautiful.

"...it's a goal, it's a lovely goal..."

Reach further back in history, and abroad, for a weird and wonderful world of outlandish goal nets. In 1969, Newcastle United's visit to Hungary for the second leg of the Fairs Cup final is a fond memory for any Newcastle fan - for me, the stripey goal posts were as incredible as the result. Ben Arentoft's 50th minute equaliser reacted well with the fairly taught net and back poles as he reeled away, and as Newcastle grasped European success.

The Azteca Stadium hints at the future in 1970 

Check out World Cup highlights from the 70s and you'll find more examples of the unusual yet wonderful goal designs, and how they contributed to the aesthetic of some spectacular and memorable goals. The 1970 final hinted at what was to come although they still had the decency to retain horizontal support poles above the net.

There are many more examples and I'm sure you'll all have your favourites but if I had one, somewhat superficial, wish for the future of football, it would be that the design of goals in grounds can once again be more freehand. That they can reform their own expressions and augment the aesthetic of the 'spectacular finish'. That thirty yards screamers can rediscover the benefit of "hitting the top corner" and more importantly, that stadia up and down the country can once again be recognised by the shape of their onion bags.