Comments on: Quantum mechanics obsolete?!

by: ScottyXI

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:41:18 +0000

Corner flags are there for two reasons:

1. for certain “stars” to mime singing down/pole dance around following a goal as part of their celebration.

2. to provide comedy “What happened next?” type moments when players crash into them often up-rooting them.

A possible third reason for them is to house the radio masts that provide GPS positioning for pin-point accuracy crosses as demopnstrated by the entire England team when they stroll to the World Cup Final!

by: Wes Truth

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 11:56:44 +0000

Thanks Helger.

What is the point of corner flags? Surely people can tell where the pitch ends? You don’t have a barrier all round the pitch now do you?!!

by: Helger Heiderson

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 10:11:16 +0000

I think the circle around the centre spot used to be the outline of the ball. In a similar way to the development of microchips, footballs have got smaller and smaller, so that nowadays the ‘centre circle’ is redundant.

The penalty area is rectangular because the ‘goal’ used to be in the inside of a public house. Due to saftery concerns after several stampedes in the 1680s the goals were moved outside. The white lines remain as a reminder of the outer and inner walls of the pub.

by: Wes Truth

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 08:58:54 +0000

Thanks for your help Rick.

Another thing that I have been pondering is why we have a circle around the centre spot when penalty boxes are rectangular.

by: Rick Wakeman

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 18:26:38 +0000

Could be, Wes, but it brings to my mind the ‘path of least resistance’ of electricity, in that, faced with a tricky decision, it’s always easier just to give a free kick to the defending team.

by: Wes Truth

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 14:43:24 +0000

Does this explain why free-kicks get given for non-existent pushing in the box at corners?

by: The Ghost of Dennis Watts

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 12:36:42 +0000

I think this would come under the wave-particle duality concept, whereby every tackle is both a clean challenge and a foul at the same time, until ‘measured’ by an observer, in this case Mr Poll, but at the same time, the same tackle can be observed by a different person and be shown to have properties incongruent to what Mr Poll observes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave-particle_duality