User:Itsagoal2000soccer

The inventors of portable uPVC mini soccer goals - Sheffield

Junior Football goalpost sizes were developed in 1989 by John Wilson - (the organization ITSA Goal. net) from Sheffield, England who invented the first portable uPVC safe lightweight children's Goalpost. The goal was 12' x 6' (3.6m x 1.8m) this was a proportionally correct size for children up to the ages of eleven. Prior to this goalpost design and size, most children's games at school were played in the existing larger goalposts. The effect of this was that the smaller children would kick the ball over the keeper's heads and score quite easily; this did not help the development of children's football skills. This smaller goal post invention was seen by the Football Association and they adopted this size and created Mini soccer for children for ages up to eleven; this was to develop youth football in the country. The FA & FIFA at that time approved this goalpost and Coca Cola sponsored this scheme. The Coca Cola Big red Bag was a set of plastic goals in a bag and allowed football pitches to be set up anywhere quickly and easily and then be packed away for storage allowing the sports field to be used for other sports. This new goalpost invention and the new game of mini-soccer for children changed children's football and now there are thousands of mini-soccer teams and leagues all over the country. This growth in new young players outgrew the smaller goals and further led to older children requiring slightly larger youth goalposts which created 9v9 Games and the goalpost size of 16' x 7' (4.8m x 2.1m). Mini soccer also allowed women's football to develop with greater women's football participation at an early age. More details regarding this development and how this also led to brand new Goalpost safety standards and lighter goalposts for children can be read on the citation.