Patent Publication Number: US-2004043844-A1

Title: Netting for football goal post

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] This invention pertains to the sport of football, and more particularly to mesh netting attached to football goal posts to indicate to kickers, coaches, referees, and the spectator public whether a successful field goal or extra point has been kicked between the uprights and above the crossbar of the goal posts.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] In the game of football, goal posts are located at either end of the playing field and specifically are used for scoring distant field goals and close in extra points after a touchdown has been scored. The modern goal post ordinarily comprises a lower horizontal crossbar located 10 feet above the ground level playing field with the crossbar attached to and supporting upwardly extending laterally spaced vertical uprights. Ordinarily, a single 10-foot high center supporting post securely cemented in the ground and extending upwardly supports the crossbar, although older goal posts may have two laterally spaced supporting ground posts. A successful field goal or extra point is scored by kicking the ball above the horizontal crossbar and between the vertical uprights. In high school, college, and junior football, the uprights ordinarily are 20 feet high but can be 30 feet high if desired, although some older junior installations can have 10-foot uprights. The uprights in professional football must be 30 feet high. College and professional football uprights are laterally spaced 18 feet 6 inches apart inner dimension between uprights, while high school and junior football uprights are laterally spaced 23 feet 4 inches apart inner dimension between the uprights. In all levels of football, including professional, the goal posts are located 10 yards beyond the goal line on a line called the end line. The supporting post ordinarily is located behind the end line but bends forward slightly at the supporting connection with the crossbar so that the crossbar is located directly above the end line.  
       [0003] In high school, and junior football particularly, the kickers are young players and ordinarily not sufficiently strong enough to effectively loft a robust kick as is common in college and professional football. A field goal kicked in high school or junior football, as well as many extra points if successful, frequently are low trajectory kicks which barely clear the crossbar. Such kicks passing close to the cross bar are difficult to judge, even though the referee may be well placed, due to the perspective of the referee looking upwardly, the low trajectory, and particularly the difficulty of judging whether the ball passed just above or just below the horizontal crossbar. Such calls are judgment calls by the referee and cannot be verified by video recording due to distortions in videos. The perspective is even more difficult to judge by distant players, coaches and spectators, all having different views from their respective distant locations. Judging kicks between the uprights is not as difficult, except when the ball passes very close to an upright, which again is a judgment problem common to college and professional football as well. A football kicked on an angle toward the goal post from one side of the field, rather than from the center of the field straight away, is difficult to determine whether the football passes inside or outside the uprights as the football passes the uprights on an angle. All such close calls are judgment calls by the referees depending on their skill, perspective, eyesight, and position relative to the ball and the goal posts. Although not as critical, practice kicking during football practice sessions at all levels likewise provide difficult assessments by distant kickers and coaches as to whether such practice kicks are indeed successful kicks. Practice kicking has the added inconvenience of retrieving numerous footballs kicked well beyond the goal posts even though the practice kicks may be repeatedly successful kicks.  
       [0004] It now has been found that by locating a loose fitting mesh net between the uprights and above the horizontal crossbar of a football goal post provides players, coaches, spectators, and especially officiating referees, with a verifying means that a kick is successful. Loose fitting slack netting disposed between the uprights and above the horizontal crossbar will catch a successfully kicked football and indicate to all that a successful kick has been made. The loose netting is particularly advantageous for footballs passing close to the upright and/or the horizontal cross bar, especially angled kicks, to determine on which side of the uprights and crossbar the ball passed. A successful kick caught by the netting will cause the loose fitting netting to bellow rearwardly of the goal post along with dropping the kicked football to the ground below the goal posts. An unsuccessful kick will cause the loose netting to do nothing. The netting is particularly useful for high school football, junior football, or lower level school football, where the young kickers typically kick low trajectory footballs that seldom exhibit high accurate trajectory over the 10-foot high crossbar. The netting adds more certainty and accuracy to the judgment calls by officiating referees and essentially eliminates controversies over whether the judgment calls are accurate. The loose fitting netting is particularly advantageous in practice sessions where successfully kicked footballs are caught by the netting and merely drop to the ground below the goal posts. In all levels of football, practice kicks send the football well beyond the goal posts, but the loose netting attached to the goal posts will eliminate chasing successful kicks as well as indicate to the kicker that the practice kick was successful. These and other advantages of this invention will become more apparent by referring to the drawings and the detailed description of the invention.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005] Briefly, the invention pertains to mesh netting attached to the backside of the laterally spaced vertical uprights of football goal posts to provide a slack loose netting to catch successfully kicked footballs and indicate to all that the kick was successful. The upper corners of the netting are securely attached to the goal posts on the backside of the upper ends of the uprights. The vertical periphery of the netting is loosely attached to the respective adjacent upright by a plurality of vertically spaced retainer tie means secured to the periphery of the netting and loosely looped around the adjacent upright. The bottom periphery of the netting can be attached similarly with one or more retainer ties, provided the bottom of the netting is sufficiently slack and loose fitting to permit a successfully kicked football to drop to the ground through an opening between the bottom of the netting and the crossbar. In preferred aspects of the invention, the netting can be raised or lowered on the goal post by a coordinated pulley system adapted to raise the mesh netting to the top of the uprights or lower the netting to form bundled netting proximate the horizontal crossbar when not in use. The pulley means for raising and lowering the netting can be manual or automated. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0006]FIG. 1 is a rear elevation view of a football goal post having mesh netting attached rearwardly of the uprights and horizontal crossbar of the goal post in accordance with this invention.  
     [0007]FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the goal post and netting taken along lines  2 - 2  in FIG. 1.  
     [0008]FIG. 3 is a rearward partial perspective view of the goal post and netting shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.  
     [0009]FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial side elevation view of the upper right hand corner of the netting for attachment to an adjacent upright.  
     [0010]FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the goal post showing a pulley system for raising and lowering the netting on the goal post shown in FIG. 1.  
     [0011]FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial view of FIG. 5 indicating attachments of the netting to the pulley system shown in FIG. 5. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     [0012] Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like parts, FIG. 1 is a rear elevation view of a football goal post  10  having laterally spaced uprights  12 , an interposed lower horizontal crossbar  14  secured to and supporting the uprights  12 , and a center ground supporting post  16  supporting the crossbar  14  and uprights  12 . The center supporting post  16  ordinarily is 10 feet high, while the uprights  12  ordinarily are 20 feet high for junior, high school and college football, but can be 30 feet high. The uprights  12  are 30 feet high for professional football. The uprights  12  are 23 feet 4 inches apart for high school and junior football, and 18 feet 6 inches apart for college and professional football.  
     [0013] The goal post  10  has lightweight mesh netting  18  attached rearwardly of the goal post uprights  12  and the horizontal bar  14 . The netting  18  comprises mesh net material  20  attached to an enlarged peripheral border cord comprising laterally spaced vertical border cords  22  for stretching the netting  18  sideways and vertically spaced upper and lower horizontal border cords  24  for stretching the netting  18  vertically. The vertical border cords  22  can be braided poly cordage or woven rope or similar material of sufficient strength for raising and lowering the netting  18  along with maintaining vertical and sideways stretch in approximately rectangular form. The upper and lower horizontal border cords  24  can be similar material but of lesser strength as needed for maintaining the netting  18  stretched vertically, considering that upper cord  24   a  requires some strength for supporting the weight of the netting  18 , while the lower cord  24   b  primarily maintains the netting  18  stretched vertically and laterally. The mesh netting  18  ordinarily is rectangular to approximate the rectangular opening between the laterally spaced uprights  12  and above the horizontal crossbar  14 , which define a successful kick area of the goal post.  
     [0014] Referring to FIG. 2, the netting  18  is located and attached rearward of the goal post uprights  12  and the horizontal bar  14  to avoid any interference with the trajectory of the kicked football approaching the goal post  10 . The vertical support post  16  is shown slightly displaced rearwardly in FIG. 2 for clarification, which represents most installations, although some older designs can be aligned in approximately the same vertical plane with the uprights  12  and horizontal crossbar  14 . The upper horizontal border cord  24   a  supporting the netting  18  vertically is stretched laterally between the respective uprights  12  and attached to an upper connecting means secured to the backside of each upright  12 . A useful upper connecting means comprises an upper eyebolt screw  26  secured to the upper backside of each vertical upright  12  and extending laterally rearward, as shown in FIG. 4. In a similar manner, the lower horizontal border cord  24   b  of the netting  18  likewise can be stretched laterally sideways between the respective uprights and similarly attached to a lower connecting means secured to the lowermost end of each upright  12  proximate the juncture between the uprights  12  and crossbar  14 . A useful lower connecting means comprises a lower eyebolt screw  28  similar to eyebolt  26  secured to the lowermost backside of the upright  12 , such as shown in FIG. 4, or alternatively can be secured to the distal ends of the crossbar  14 , as shown FIG. 2. In preferred aspects of this invention, only upper attachments to the respective upper ends of the adjacent upright are used, while the bottom of the netting  18  is loosely attached to the crossbar  14  by loosely looped retainer ties  38  described below.  
     [0015] The netting  18  further contains an extension attachment means  30  at the upper two corners of the rectangular netting  18  to facilitate clipping or tying attachment to adjacent upper connectors  26 . FIG. 4 is a partial side elevation view of the upper right corner of the netting  18  with an extension attachment means  30  comprising an extension tab member  32  with internal grommet  34  for clipping or tying attachment of the attachment means  30  to the upper eyebolt  26 . If lower eyebolts  28  are used in less preferred aspects of the invention, similar lower tab connectors  30  are attached at the lower corners of the netting  18  for clipping or tying attachment to lower eyebolts  28 . The upper corners of the netting  18  can be attached to the upper ends of the respective uprights  12  by a variety of attachments means, primarily utilizing the corner tabs  32  and grommets  34 , including for instance, snap hooks or bolts or ties or other securing means to secure the grommet  34  to the respective eyebolt. Alternatively, a screw or bolt can be secured through the grommet  34  directly to the respective upright  12 .  
     [0016] Each side border cord  22  of the netting  18  contains a plurality of loose fitting retainer ties  36  vertically spaced and secured to the respective side border cord  22 . The retainer ties  36  are adapted to be loosely looped around the adjacent upright  12 , as best viewed in enlarged FIG. 4, to maintain a slack loose connection of the netting  18  to the adjacent upright  12  while in use. The retainer ties  36  can be attached after the netting  18  is attached to eyebolts  26  or pre-attached intermittently to the vertical border cord  22 . The netting  18  should contain a sufficient number of retainer ties  36  to maintain the netting  18  reasonably close to the adjacent upright  12  to prevent a kicked football from slipping between the vertical border cord  22  and adjacent upright  12 . The intent is to cause a successful kicked football to encounter the netting  18  and drop to the bottom of the netting  18  and eventually drop to the ground. Typically 4 to 10 retainer ties  36  attaching each vertical side cord  22  to the adjacent upright  12  are a sufficiently useful number of ties, where the useful number depends on the height of the upright  12 . Particularly useful retainer ties  36  are about 15 to 20 inches long forming a flexible ring diameter of about 5 to 6 inches, although in use the flexible retainer ties  36  tend to resemble an elongated oval shape. The loose attachment of the netting  18  to the uprights  12  maintains a loose fitting intermediate slack section of the netting  18  stretched between the uprights  12  while slightly displaced behind the uprights  12  and the horizontal crossbar  14 . Preferably the retainer ties  36  are secured to vertical border cords  22  by sewing, clipping, or other secure attachment to assure the retainer ties  36  remain in place to control the netting  18  movement and avoid undesirable flapping or similar uncontrolled netting movement, while loosely engaging the vertical uprights  12 . The retainer ties  36  can be heavy-duty plastic tie straps, or woven plastic or hemp roping, or heavy velcro material strapping, or similar flexible material, preferably containing a snap button connector for manually connecting the ends of the ties  36  together to form a loop around the uprights  12 .  
     [0017] The bottom horizontal  24   b  border cord of the netting  18  contains one or more loose fitting bottom retainer ties  38  for maintaining the bottommost border cord  24   b  in close proximity to the horizontal crossbar  14 , but with some loose slack and opening between the bottom border cord  24   b  and the crossbar  14  to enable a successfully kicked football to drop to the ground between the lower border cord  24   b  and the horizontal crossbar  24   b . Bottom retainer ties  38  can be the same or different than retainer ties  36  but generally loose fitting around the horizontal crossbar  14 . A useful number of at least 1, but preferably 2 to 4 bottom retainer ties  38  ordinarily can be used, although more can be used if desired, provided a successfully kicked football can drop to the ground through an adequate opening between the netting  18  and the crossbar  14 . The bottom retainer tie  38  can be secured to the lower border cord  24   b  and loosely looped around the horizontal crossbar  14  for attachment of the netting  18  to the crossbar  14 . As indicated above, bottom retainer ties  38  are preferably used alone to secure the bottom of the netting  18  to the crossbar  14  without using bottom connectors  28  or bottom attachment means  30 .  
     [0018] In accordance with a desired aspect of this invention, the netting  18  can be alternately raised or lowered on the goal post  10  by means of a pulley system shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, wherein a fixed pulley wheel  50  is operatively attached to the backside of each upright  12  near the uppermost top and above each eyebolt connector  28 . The pulley wheel  50  has a pulley rope operatively inserted over the pulley wheel  50  in a standard single fixed wheel pulley arrangement where the load bearing end  53  of the pulley rope is threaded downwardly through the upper eyebolt  26  and then attached to the eyelet  34  in the upper extension connector  30  on the upper corner of the netting  18 . The pulling end  52  of the pulley rope can be grasped by an individual  54  on the ground. A pulley system is provided on each upright  12  where both pulley systems need to be coordinated to raise or lower both sides of the netting  18  simultaneously, ordinarily by an individual  54  on each side of the goal post  10 . The pulley system can be automated with a motorized pulling force, if desired, but seemingly unnecessary due the light weight of the netting. When the netting  18  is fully stretched and at the top of the uprights  12 , the pulley wheel  50  can be locked or the pulling end  52  of the pulley rope can be secured to a locking mechanism at the bottom of the respective vertical upright  12  to maintain the netting  18  raised against the backside of the goal post uprights  12  while in use. A suitable and simple locking mechanism can comprise a hook  56  adapted to hook into a lower eyebolt  28  when the netting  18  is fully raised. By using two pulley systems, one on either side of the goal post  10 , the netting  18  can be easily hoisted into position behind the goal post uprights  12  for use, and thereafter released and collapsed into a folded roll or bundle  58  at the bottom of the uprights  12  proximate the horizontal crossbar  14  when the netting  18  is not in use, as indicated in FIGS. 5 and 6. Collapsing the netting  18  during nonuse minimizes exposure to the elements, especially wind damage, and advantageously extends the useful wear life of the netting  18 . In using the pulley system, the flexible ties  36  can be loosely attached to the respective vertical uprights  12  to enable loose sliding upward or downward movement of the netting  18 .  
     [0019] By attaching slack netting  18  loosely engaging the backside of the uprights  12 , the netting  18  will avoid interference with successfully kicked field goals or extra points, but will catch successfully kicked footballs. By attaching the eyebolts  26  to the backside of the goal post, the netting  18  will not interfere with a kicked football hitting an upright  12  or the crossbar  14 . The football will still have a true bounce off the upright  12  or crossbar  14 , either by passing through the uprights  12  and over the crossbar  14  for a successful kick, or by not passing through and wayward of the uprights  12  and/or crossbar  14  for an unsuccessful kick. The netting  18  attached to the rearwardly directed eyebolts  26  likewise will not interfere with the flight of the kicked ball for either a successful or wayward kick. Only a successfully kicked football will pass through the goal post  10  and be caught by the netting  18 . The slack or loose fitting netting  18  attached to the backside of goal post upright  12  and the horizontal crossbar  14  in accordance with this invention will catch a successfully kicked field goal or extra point and will indicate to all that a successful kick between the uprights  12  has been made. Questionable judgment calls on kicks close to the uprights  12  and/or the crossbar  14 , especially low trajectory kicks, will be essentially eliminated by simple visual verification of the netting catching a successful kick. Although a major advantage of the invention is verification of questionably close kicked field goals and extra points in a game, the netting  18  is similarly useful for practice kicking sessions to signify successful kicks and avoid chasing kicked footballs beyond the field goal  10 .  
     [0020] Although specific embodiments and preferred aspects of the invention have been shown and described, the invention is not intended to be limited in scope, except as set forth in the appended claims.