The first known reference to a soccer goal can be traced back to the reign of Chinese Emperor Ch’eng Ti (around 32 B.C.), when two bamboo sticks stood with a net made of silk stretched between them. Since then, soccer goals have sophisticated from being made from wood to much lighter aluminum or steel goals. ASTM F2950-14(2021): Standard Safety And Performance Specification For Soccer Goals details requirements for soccer goals.
What Is ASTM F2950-14?
ASTM F2950-14(2021) specifies safety and performance requirements aimed at providing safer soccer goals and thereby reducing injuries and fatalities. The standard applies to all soccer goals with a total weight greater than 40 lb. It covers multiple types of soccer goals:
- Movable Goal—any free-standing soccer goal designed to be readily moved from location of use to location of use. If a goal is able to function as a soccer goal without the use of anchors or support of other structure, it must be considered a movable goal.
- Permanent Goal—any goal fixed by concrete or other material to ground or floor, with or without net supports. Cannot be relocated for use.
- Semi Permanent Goal—any goal designed to be inserted into a ground sleeve or readily fastened to a supporting structure and thereby able to be removed from the location of use.
Why Do Americans Call Football “Soccer?”
The word “soccer” comes from the use of the term “association football” in Britain, going back 200 years. In the early 1800s, a bunch of British universities took “football”—a medieval game—and started playing their own versions of it, all under different rules. To standardize things across the country, these games were categorized under different organizations with different names.
One variant of the game became “rugby football,” which included the possibility to take up the ball with the hands. Another variant came to be known as “association football,” which involved players using their feet to propel a ball. Association football was created after the Football Association formed to promote the game in 1863—after the rules were made at Cambridge in 1848, and it was decided that carrying the ball with hands was not allowed. This 1863 meeting in London resulted in the standardization of the size and weight of the ball, and notably that the game was divided into two codes: rugby and association football.
After these two sports spread across the Atlantic, in the early 1900s Americans invented their own variant of the game that they simply called football. Association football became “soccer” in America, and what was called “gridiron” in Britain became simply “football” in America.
Soccer Goal Frame Testing
In regard to the goal frame, the standard details that it may be constructed from any material (provided the requirements of this standard are fulfilled) and should maintain its integrity for outdoor use for a minimum period of five years. The goal frame should pass the following testing in ASTM F2950-14(2021):
- Unanchored Goal Testing (applies only to movable goals): Goal passes Unanchored Goal Testing if it passes either the Swing Stability Test (a stop is placed in front of goal uprights to prevent goal from sliding forward during testing) or the Balanced Goal Test (establishes that the subject goal has an equal resistance to overturning from either direction)
- Anchored Goal Testing: Goal passes Anchored Goal Testing if it passes both Strength of Goal Frame Test (the goal frame does not collapse or overturn over duration of loading and no component of the goal fractures during testing) and Stability of Goal Frame Test (frame does not collapse over duration of loading, goal does not overturn over the duration of the loading, goal returns to an upright position after load is removed, and no component of the goal fractures during the test)
ASTM F2950-14(2021): Standard Safety And Performance Specification For Soccer Goals is available on the ANSI Webstore.
