More details have emerged of the Carlisle United goalpost item that caused a serious injury to Grimsby Town goalkeeper Jake Eastwood.
Eastwood crashed into the goalpost while attempting to save Sam Lavelle’s headed goal after 11 minutes of their recent clash at Brunton Park.
Already without their number one keeper Jordan Wright for a month, Eastwood had to be stretchered off and was replaced by 17-year-old Seb Auten for the rest of the game.
Eastwood suffered a ruptured kneecap tendon which will was operated on in Carlisle’s Carlisle Infirmary and he is likely to be out for six months.
Immediately after the game Grimsby manager David Artell highlighted the design of the goalposts as the cause of the injury, saying – “You can’t have such a sharp piece of metal sticking out right behind the posts. These goals are widely used but there’s obviously a design flaw because that can’t happen.”
The component in question is the hinge that allows the back of the net to be folded up and in many models, it sticks up vertically. Eastwood has landed square on it and severed the tendon which is visible in footage of the match.
Unfortunately, this specific part of the goalpost is not standardised, so the design varies hugely depending on the manufacturer, with some styles being safer than others. A simple solution would be to bring a piece of foam and Velcro to the hinges or make them out of plastic so they break instead of them breaking the player.
It could be argued that the design violates Football Association Laws which state that the goalpost and crossbar must be made of approved material and must not be dangerous.
Ultimately manufacturers must improve the safety of their designs, and the British Standards need to consider these types of impact injuries in their testing of football equipment.
