Even if you are not the most ardent of sports fans, you will know that many sports rely upon and utilise netting in one way or another. Netting specialists will tell you sports netting either plays an intrinsic part in the way that a sport is played, or it is utilised in other ways such as during practice and spectator safety.
There are many pieces of sports equipment that people take lots more notice of and pay plenty of attention to such as the ball in football, the bat in cricket, and the clubs in golf. However, sports nets tend not to be at the top of the agenda when people discuss sports equipment. They exist, almost unnoticed, but it is certain, if they were not there, sports fans, and participants, would soon notice.
To give you a better understanding of what we mean here are some examples of sports nets and a brief explanation of why they are so important to that sport.
Football
Probably the most popular sport which uses nets is football, and we can thank John Alexander Brodie for their invention. In fact, it was the team he supported, Everton, which was the first ever to ‘hit the back of the net’ with a goal, and since then millions of fans have cheered whenever their team does likewise. Their main role is to show that a goal has been scored, between the posts and under the bar.
Hockey
Similar to football in the sense that hitting the net means a hockey team has scored, although strictly speaking it could hit the baseboard and not trouble the net, and still be a goal. Often made from aluminium mesh as opposed to nylon netting, hockey nets are almost rectangular in shape when set up given the dimensions of a field hockey goal frame.
Cricket
Here is a sports net not used during the game, but ‘cricket nets’ are an essential part of a player’s and a team’s practice. Cricket nets allow bowlers to practice bowling and batters to practice their shots, without the ball traveling hundreds of feet away. It also allows for safe practice as there is no risk of an unsuspecting passer-by being hit with the ball. Cricket nets can also be set up indoors for practice.
Golf
Like cricket, golf nets usually have no role during the actual play, but they are an essential part of the practice a player undertakes. There are several different types of golf nets with respect to dimensions, but for the most part, they allow a player to hit practice shots and not be concerned where the ball is going in terms of hitting anyone or anything. They also allow indoor practice to take place too.
Basketball
Here is a sport where the name of it makes reference to the net itself with the earliest nets being peach baskets The strange thing is, unlike football or hockey where the net is designed to stop the ball, in basketball, it merely slows down the rate of the ball’s descent if a player throws or ‘dunks’ it through the hoop. Note that recreational basketball does not actually need nets and often games take place with netless hoops.
Tennis
Undoubtedly a sport where the net is an essential and intrinsic part of it, and where, unlike other sports, the objective is not to ‘hit the net’ but to hit over it. Worse, if a player accidentally touches the net during play, their opponent wins the point by default.