In 1891 a scoure engineer called John Alexander Brodie "invented" the concept of a goalkeeping net to avoid disputes over whether a goal had been scored. Apparently this was after he witnessed a near riot at Goodison when nobody could decide if the ball had gone in or not.

This is the official story, given that this was in Liverpool it is also a possobility that the net was designed to reduce the number of balls stolen by the crowd.

Any other similar stories out there?

The penalty kick was first thought of by the son of a wealthy mill owner, Willie McCrum from Milford, a small village in County Armagh a couple of miles where I was brought up.

In the late 1800's football matches were generally a 'free for all' in which old scores could be settled and cases of manslaughter were not unusual. Willie, who played goals,

thought that a penally kick would maybe solve the mayhem and in 1890 it was taken on board by the IFA. The IFA were persuaded to bring it in front of the IFB (International

Football Board). At first the idea was scorned, especially by the English Press who named it 'the Irishman's Motion' and in a meeting in London in June 1890 it was adjourned for

one year. One reason was that it would curb the players' freedom of expression and secondly It was unthinkable that a player should deliberately kick an opponent. The following year

it became Rule 13 in The Laws of the Game

I started playing football as a teenager with Milford Everton on the same pitch that Willie McCrum played his football on. At one end a missed penally would see the ball end up in

a fast flowing river which run directly behind. The other end was a steep run up hill with the goal-line at least 2 foot (60 cm for you younger readers) higher than the penally spot.

An Englishman called Ken Aston invented the red and yellow card concept. He was a ref and was the chief ref during the 1966 world cup finals. When Rattin was sent off in the game between Argentina and England he wasn't refereeing but had to go on to the pitch to convince Rattin to leave the pitch. He then realised that refs needed a better way of making it clear a player had been sent off, largely due to language barriers.

When he drove home that night he was stopped by a traffic light changing to red and it was this that lit the lighb ulb in his head - yellow, easy lad, red , game over.

They were first used in the Mexico World CUp in 1970.

The penalty kick was first thought of by the son of a wealthy mill owner, Willie McCrum from Milford, a small village in County Armagh a couple of miles where I was brought up.

In the late 1800's football matches were generally a 'free for all' in which old scores could be settled and cases of manslaughter were not unusual. Willie, who played goals,

thought that a penally kick would maybe solve the mayhem and in 1890 it was taken on board by the IFA. The IFA were persuaded to bring it in front of the IFB (International

Football Board). At first the idea was scorned, especially by the English Press who named it 'the Irishman's Motion' and in a meeting in London in June 1890 it was adjourned for

one year. One reason was that it would curb the players' freedom of expression and secondly It was unthinkable that a player should deliberately kick an opponent. The following year

it became Rule 13 in The Laws of the Game

I started playing football as a teenager with Milford Everton on the same pitch that Willie McCrum played his football on. At one end a missed penally would see the ball end up in

a fast flowing river which run directly behind. The other end was a steep run up hill with the goal-line at least 2 foot (60 cm for you younger readers) higher than the penally spot.

Jeez Goose,Milford Everton,now theres a blast from the past.Played many a game there mostly mid-ulster games.Remember the river well.Hated been sub because it was always an extra job you got to fish the ball out.Also remember going to league meetings in a hall in Milford,cant remember its name.I recall one of the officials was Sammy Douglas.Small world.

I do remember a story about how injury time came about. I think it was a match between watford and aston villa and in the dying seconds of the match aston villa won a penalty. The watford keeper then picked up the ball and booted it as far away as he could so that the match did not have time for the penalty to be taken.

Not sure about that sals as a penalty is the only thing that a ref has to extend time for. i.e. once it has been awarded it has to be taken irrespective of any time between the award and it being taken. Not sure how long that law has been in place for.

Jeez Goose,Milford Everton,now theres a blast from the past.Played many a game there mostly mid-ulster games.Remember the river well.Hated been sub because it was always an extra job you got to fish the ball out.Also remember going to league meetings in a hall in Milford,cant remember its name.I recall one of the officials was Sammy Douglas.Small world.

Yeah Maddoo, had to do a fair bit of retrieving from the river myself. The hall was the McCrum Institute, named after the Mill owner, don't know if it's been used anymore for anything as I hadn't been through there for a few years. Don't think there's any football played out there now since Milford Everton changed name and moved to Armagh.

Sammy Douglas was a great worker for the Mid Ulster and I see they play for a trophy now in his name.