Jonny Zucker - Goalkeepers

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Goalkeepers ISBN 978-1-85880-928-1 (second edition) 2013
ISBN: 9781781477304 (Epub)
ISBN: 9781781477922 (Mobi)

Text Jonny Zucker 2002

Complete work Badger Publishing Limited 2002

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

The right of Jonny Zucker to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

To be a goalkeeper you need some basic football kit.

Boots for grass and trainers for a hard surface are needed. Shin pads are very important as they can stop a goalkeeper getting badly hurt.

Tracksuit bottoms are useful because they protect your legs better than shorts. This is very true in a playground!

A goalkeepers top with elbow pads can make your life as a goalkeeper a little bit safer. Goalkeeping gloves are important because they protect your hands and hold the ball well.

The back-pass rule is one of the most important for goalies. If one of your own players passes back to you and you handle the ball, the other side get a direct free kick. This happens, even if you touched the ball very near to your goal.

If one of your players heads the ball back to you, it is OK to use your hands.

If you trip a player in your penalty area, and you are the last player on your team, this means a lot of trouble!

Not only do the other team get a penalty, but the referee will probably send you off as well.

Muteba Kidiaba is shown the red card

Many people say that the save by the England goalkeeper Gordon Banks from Brazils Pel is the best save of all time.

Gordon Banks and Pel holding a photo of the famous save

It happened in a match of the 1970 World Cup finals.

As the ball was crossed over to Pel from the right, he jumped very high, and headed the ball down at great speed towards the England goal.

It looked as if Banks had no chance because he was diving the wrong way. But somehow he was able to change direction, stretch his body and flick the ball away.

Goalkeepers are the only players who can touch the ball with their hands when it is in play.

If the ball is inside their penalty area they can use their hands. If it is outside their penalty area and they touch the ball with their hands, then this gives away a direct free kick.

In the early days of football, all of the players on the pitch could use their hands. In 1863 all players could touch the ball, and a free kick was given if one team touched the ball down over the other teams goal line like a try in rugby.

Some goalkeepers are not very loud. They have a quiet word with their defenders from time to time and tell them where they should make a wall at free kicks.

Other goalkeepers are very noisy. The most famous king of the penalty area is Peter Schmeichel. When he played for Manchester United, he shouted and screamed at his defenders to do what he wanted.

When one of his defenders made a mistake and Schmeichel let a goal in, he would make it very clear who was to blame.

Peter Schmeichel celebrates with his teammates after winning the Champions League final in 1999

Sometimes his defenders took all of this yelling, but at other times they shouted back at him!

Goalkeepers wear the number one shirt because they are the first player as the team stands on the pitch. Reserve goalkeepers wear different numbers.

Many number one shirts are one colour, and are sometimes the same colour as the rest of the teams shirts.

One ex-goalkeeper famous for his colourful shirts is David Seaman who played for Arsenal and England. He has worn a number one shirt that was a mix of very bright colours.

There have been times when goalkeepers have scored goals.

In the 1970s Pat Jennings, who was then playing for Tottenham, took a very big goal kick which flew right to the other end of the ground and over the other goalkeepers head.

Peter Schmeichel, when he played for Manchester United, liked to go up the field for free kicks when his team badly needed a goal.

In one game, he helped his team in this way. When a free kick was lobbed into the penalty area, Schmeichel was there waiting. He jumped up and headed the ball in.

Some goalkeepers have nicknames.

The most famous goalkeeping nickname was the one given to the Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Bonetti in the 1960s and 1970s.

Bonetti was called The Cat because of the way he could spring around his penalty area. Like a cat, he could jump very high and dive very far, and because of this great skill, he was able to make some amazing saves.

It wasnt just the Chelsea fans and players who called him this name.

Wherever he went in the world, football fans would watch him play and talk about The Cat.

Peter The Cat Bonetti