THE portable goalposts often used by youth football teams have injured more than 300 children in Britain since 1989 and killed 9. In the US, 24 have been killed in similar accidents since 1980. But many of the accidents could be prevented with a simple redesign of the posts, according to a study by sports engineers.
“Some of the designs are just inherently unstable and dangerous,” says Owain Pedgley at the Sports SET Network at the University of Sheffield. The researchers are now calling for the recommended safe design standards for the goalposts to be revised.
Portable or free-standing goalposts…
