Should Rugby Union Use NFL-Style Goalposts?

[LiRFCMatt]

Should Rugby Union Use NFL-Style Goalposts? http://fourballsblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/should-rugby-union-use-nfl-style.html

This article is in response to some comments on Aaron Smith's try versus the Stormers yesterday

Having heard what people are suggesting about changing the goalposts we followed up with this article, concluding that it would be a massive pain to do so and isn't worth it, provided this is a relative rare occurrence. I was wondering what you guys thought of the try, we thought it was pretty awesome thinking and execution!

 

[Kiwiwomble]

i have to say as a highlanders supporter..it was a little cringe worthy...cheeky at best

if it was felt scoring like that had to be stopped i would just removed the law saying you could score at the base, its probably only 2% of the try line you couldn't score against so don't think it would be a big problem

 

[InsaneAsylum]

I'm more concerned about the number 3 "just standing there" right between the ruck and the post. kind of hard to tackle smith with a player screening him. you could argue that "he's bound" but does a finger touching a bound player constitute being bound yourself?

 

[smartcooky]

It won't work unless you are happy for goal kickers to kick extra and variable distance. In NFL, the crossbar is not over the goal-line, its over the end-line (what we call the dead ball line).

This works fine because all NFL fields are exactly the same dimensions. The end zone (in-goal) is 10 yards so that the distance to the goal posts is the same on every field throughout the USA.

This is not the case in rugby union where the in-goal is anywhere from 6m to 22m. If you were thinking you could mount the NFL post over the dead ball line with a big curve back to the goal-line, forget it. The engineering requirements would be slightly colossal. A set of wishbone goalposts with a 22m long horizontal offset beam would mean the main mounting post would have to be about 1 half metre thick and have to be concreted in to a depth of about 5m. Additionally, the CFL and NFL posts are about 2m offset, and they wave about a lot in the wind.



Try to imagine what this would look like if the horizontal offset beam was 15m long instead of 2m


Solutions?

There are only two possible safe solutions that I can think of

Simplest - change the Law so that you cannot score a try against the post unless the ball also touches the goal-line.

Next simplest - Make the outside dimensions of all goalpost padding a uniform, regulation size, then set the goalposts back into the in-goal far enough so that goal-line runs along the outside front of the padding....like this

No special engineering required, just drill the holes in a slightly different place, so its easy for grass roots rugby to be compliant too at little or no additional cost.

 

[nickdnz]

I wouldn't hate goal posts being moved back if it resulted in teams opting to go for tries more. The only downside is that in goal areas would have to be standardized as you couldn't have some goal post conversion attempts 10m harder than others..

 

[TRF_heineken]

When I was in primary school we used to play against a school from another town that had a lot more sports than we did, but they were limited with regards sporting grounds.

Their main field on which we played rugby was used for rugby, soccer, gridiron (yes, it's a private school) and other sports.

What they did was to build the NFL type posts like above, but it had 3 poles into the ground, and then 3 posts going forward can retract depending on the sport being played.

 

[LiRFCMatt]

i have to say as a highlanders supporter..it was a little cringe worthy...cheeky at best

if it was felt scoring like that had to be stopped i would just removed the law saying you could score at the base, its probably only 2% of the try line you couldn't score against so don't think it would be a big problem

I've heard this reaction from quite a few people, that is was effectively poor sportmanship, but I have never seen it this way, albeit prbably because you rarely see a try scored in this manner, so short of the line.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

I've heard this reaction from quite a few people, that is was effectively poor sportmanship, but I have never seen it this way, albeit prbably because you rarely see a try scored in this manner, so short of the line.

to me it looks like he could have made it over the line...

 

[Shaggy]

@smartcooky , your solution of slightly moving the goal posts and standardising the pad width seem the most logical and simplest to me - it makes it impossible to score a try against the posts without also crossing the try line

 

[Jaguares]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :%#%#::rahh::devil::ranting::wall::redcard:

It's our tradition!

 

[smartcooky]

I've heard this reaction from quite a few people, that is was effectively poor sportmanship, but I have never seen it this way, albeit prbably because you rarely see a try scored in this manner, so short of the line.

Leinster v Glasgow on the weekend. First try just after 0:20 on the YT timer

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

I don't have a problem with it- actually I quite like it as an oddity- but then all I want is consistency as I distinctly remember Jean de Villiers placing the ball similarly yet not being awarded the try last year.

 

[SelimNiai]

I actually applaud that try. It shows clever thinking on Smith's part. Its not as if we see this type of try every week so isn't really something thats changing the game. Also goalposts can be very useful defenders as James Haskell found out.

 

[jonny24]

Why would the post have to be at the back? You could use an NFL style post but have it lied up in the same spot.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Why would the post have to be at the back? You could use an NFL style post but have it lied up in the same spot.

pure physics in that without a heap of supporting framework, the weight of the goal posts above the crossbar will cause the goal posts to collapse. adding supporting framework would pose some risk if a player ran into it.

Think of designing a bridge.

another idea is to suspend the goal posts from above so that there would be nothing underneath the crossbar at all, although i'm not sure how feasible this would be. might be possible on a stadium with a roof like dunedin, etihad in melbourne or millenium stadium.

 

[smartcooky]

Why would the post have to be at the back? You could use an NFL style post but have it lied up in the same spot.

As InsaneAsylum says, it would be a complete engineering fail

 

[goodNumber10]

pure physics in that without a heap of supporting framework, the weight of the goal posts above the crossbar will cause the goal posts to collapse. adding supporting framework would pose some risk if a player ran into it.

Think of designing a bridge.

another idea is to suspend the goal posts from above so that there would be nothing underneath the crossbar at all, although i'm not sure how feasible this would be. might be possible on a stadium with a roof like dunedin, etihad in melbourne or millenium stadium.

Or you just make the support pole much taller than and add the supporting framework above the beam like a suspension bridge.

Regardless i think the pitch is fine as it is,just remove the law that allows a try to be scored against the pad or teams just get their defensive shape better and we're golden.

 

[ncurd]

Yeah I'm struggling to think of once where I've seen a team do this (or even score of the base, closest I think was Haskell this year)....if it starts to become more often I say we should possibly look into it but until then this a non-problem surely?

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Why would the base of the post have to be in the dead ball area? You could simply have the posts 2 meters or so behind the try line in the try area. It would pose no greater risk than current posts if they were padded.

 

[Car]

I don't have a problem with it- actually I quite like it as an oddity- but then all I want is consistency as I distinctly remember Jean de Villiers placing the ball similarly yet not being awarded the try last year.

I agree, I also remember matches were the try wasn't given in such instances. There's so much else being discussed these days, but that doesn't seem to be a problem to me.