This happened at a practice, but it's a good reminder for checking the nets - particularly in the younger age brackets.
Before last night's high school game I asked that the nets be anchored. The coach grumbled that in 25 years of coaching and watching soccer he had never seen a net come over. My response was to have the nets anchored so that he didn't have to see his first.
Re: Re: soccer goal kills six-year old I'd be interested in where you saw that stat. I was under the impression that a death occured every couple years. Are you sure that you didn't read an injury stat? Regardless. One death is too many for this easily preventable tragedy.
Re: Re: Re: soccer goal kills six-year old At a tournment I attended last fall I watched a similar goal get blown over and come crashing down 2 feet behind the 10 year-old goal keeper. Very scary! Needless to say, the remainder of the game was played out with 5 parents standing on the back of the goal to keep it upright ... of course one might ask why the referee in that case a) did not check the goals before the game started and b) why he continued to play the game after it fell over when the goal was patently in an unsafe condition
I was checking the nets at a recent men's college game. It was storming and we were delayed getting started due to lightning, so there was plenty of wind in the area. When I checked the nets, I noticed that one end didn't have the goal anchored. I walked up to goal post and gave it a decent push but not real hard. It very nearly toppled over. I went back to the coach and said you have to anchor that goal. He looked at me like I was crazy and said that it wouldn't come over. I told him I had nearly pushed it over with a fairly easy push and we had a chance of serious wind tonight and that I wanted it anchored. They've got about a half dozen guys running around there getting everything ready for the game. Why can't they have someone make sure the facilities are prepared properly? I also had to move the goal because it wasn't in the center of the field -- of by almost 2 yards and the hash marks were painted wrong -- 10 yards from the touch line instead of 11. It just makes you wonder about some of these programs.
I have never even thought of this occuring; and I had the same reaction last week when a referee pointed out that we did not have a second stake holding down the goal. I guess that is how we learn in life, from the tragedies.
And from high school physics. How many times do people drive at 60mph+ 2 inches from my back bumper? Why are these people not in mental homes? Oh wait...they're in management.
Was doing a high school game a few weeks ago. Told the coach we would not start the game until the goals were properly anchored. He told me I had to talk to his AD. So, I walked over and talked to the AD. He said he had played that way all year. Asked me "if I was better than everyone else that had come out to his school." Then he wanted to know how long I had been reffing. I told him long enough to know that goals that were not anchored are unsafe. Anyway, long story short he finally anchored them after my assignor called the head of the athletics for the state. I was ready to leave. They guy actually told me to go on and leave and that he would play the Varsity anyway. Some peeople will just never learn.
As a practicle aside, tire irons when hammered in, make excellent anchors. Tell the coaches to ask their parents to get what they have from their trucks. I now carry a good hammer and at least one tire iron in my truck. Takes very little time. By the way, would have been tempting to boot the AD, what a pinhead.
Good reminder, and the right place to post this. I'll be remembering to do this at my next match, sad to say this is something I have neglected in the past.
Saving kids from unsafe soccer goals Tragedy spurs soccer goal safety Vernon Hills Family Settles Lawsuit With Soccer Association Victim's Family Is Anchored For Safety Local Parents Kick-Off Soccer Safety Campaign new tragedy Unanchored Soccer Goal Reportedly Takes 11-Year-Old's Life
It is your duty. At a recent local district select match my son asked the coach to anchor the net. The coach didn't and my son let them play. (Yes, there was a little talk on the ride home. He wants his license really soon so that he doesn't have to be a captive audience.) Said son asked me to cover the second match (too many hours in front of the video games this summer for the lad ) so I asked the coach to anchor the nets. He said he didn't have anything with which to do it. When I told him there would be no game he found something - heavy wooden trash barrel holders, the same things we used on the field last year when I refused to let them play with unanchored goals. The only way to stop some of these accidents is for the referee to do his/her duty and refuse to do matches. What happens when the referee is not there is out of our control, but we must do our part.
Re: it happens... I did a women's game this spring on a HS field. I had the teams place equipment bags on the backs of the goal frames, because the goals were otherwise unanchored. About halfway through the game, a gust blew over a goal that was not in use, but was sitting behind one of the bench areas. I thought it was going to roll right on to the field! If it had not become tangled with another goal, it might have hit the spectators. It was windy, but not all that windy.
Don't confine your inspection to the stability of the goalposts, check the entire structure. Last fall I saw: - a stanchion (the support at the back going from the ground up to the cross bar) hanging loose at an angle that would have speared a player running into the goal. Coaches didn't see why we couldn't play. - goal improperly repaired with bolts, bolt protruding one inch beyond goal post such that it could have caused a serious injury at head height to a player colliding with the post. The most chilling factor is generally the attitude of coaches who claim that games have been played there all season.
I don't remember where I read and/or heard it, but an innovative way to anchor the goals was to have two parents from each team stand on the back. Of course, that would get very tedious, so if it comes up, I tell them they're free to hire replacements for the second half, provided the nets remain stood upon.
Please do not ever use parents as counterweights on goals. The parents are inherently unstable as it is. Seriously, using parents standing on the goals is not an acceptable solution. "Innovative" solutions include getting parents to go to the trunk of their cars to get the spare tire, placing said tires along the back bar or side strut. I can pretty much guarentee you that there will not be a second occurence. Our local 6v6 goals are mostly 1-1/4 inch pipe with a variety of connecting braces and hinges. If improperly installed, one of the hinges allows the open end of the pipe to be exposed at the base of the goal post. That would leave a mark. When confronted with the potential for no game, one parent "remembered" that he had a tool kit in his truck and 60 seconds with a socket wrench had it ready for play. He went around and fixed all the nets on four fields after that.
A while back, I was out to assess (well, do a development & guidance observation) on a young referee, who did not check to see whether the goals were anchored. Lots of play at one end, bored goalkeeper at the other end jumps up and grabs the crossbar. Goal comes over with a WHUMP! and keeper is trapped in the net like a fish. No injury, but a very shaken kid. I contacted the Park District and they were out immediately to permanently anchor the goal. Something about legal liability... So when I'm asked, yes, I have seen a goal come over in a game, and no, coach, we're not starting the game until the goal is anchored.
I did not see it, but we did have one kid maimed with a soccer goal where I regularly ref. It broke his back. The general manager of our complex is usually very good about either ensuring the goals are staked, or getting the equipment to us to do so. We have several fields that are marked several different ways. Small fields across larger ones and the like. That requires alot of moving of the different sized goals. That makes it even more important to check before each game. I'll usually check myself when I arrive at the field, and have the AR's check again after the coin toss and before they take their positions for kick-off, just to get them in the habit. I have had occasions where the goals will be staked when I arrived, but the stakes had mysteously disappeared when the AR checked. Obviously, someone from another field felt the safety of their players was more important than the safety of the ones on this field.
Re: wind-blown goal The point I was trying to make above is that the goals on the field being used in your game may not be the only ones causing a risk. The goal that blew over in the game I was doing was one of several spare goals placed off to the side of the field. I didn't pay much attention to it until it started to roll towards the players bench area. Fortunately it got tangled in another spare goal before it made it any further, but it was an eye-opener.
Re: wind-blown goal My son was in net once when a gust of wind picked the net up and blew it away like a kite, landing about 20 yards back of the goal.