Tampa Bay simply because maintenance workers are too lazy to utilize safety devices, discovered the 10 News Investigators.

This isn't surprising. I'm often much too lazy to put something to a use for which it was not originally intended. Kind of like when I'm writing an article and I utilize "utilize" instead of using "use".

Funny how even the manufacturers realize that nobody anchors them. Why don't they just design the damn goals with more weight on the back so they are stable by default. Morons.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Flakeloaf: Tampa Bay simply because maintenance workers are too lazy to utilize safety devices, discovered the 10 News Investigators.

This isn't surprising. I'm often much too lazy to put something to a use for which it was not originally intended. Kind of like when I'm writing an article and I utilize "utilize" instead of using "use".

Or when you're too lazy to utilize a thesaurus?

roughly

roughly 1 death per year since 1979. Sounds more like Darwinism.

/WTF happened?

Seems like a pretty easy obstacle to avoid

moothemagiccow: Seems like a pretty easy obstacle to avoid

The issue isn't running headlong into the goal (but yeah, I thought that too) - it's the goal tipping over and smashing a kid in the skull.

OMG there's a 1 in a billion chance this object can kill you, let's change the entire device.

Flakeloaf: moothemagiccow: Seems like a pretty easy obstacle to avoid

The issue isn't running headlong into the goal (but yeah, I thought that too) - it's the goal tipping over and smashing a kid in the skull.

Actually, it's not the goal tipping over - it's pulling the goal down and smashing yourself in the skull.

2007 article (new window)

This was a problem when I was coaching minor soccer. Kids like to grab the crossbar and swing back and forth. It's very easy then for the net to tip over, and it is dangerous.

We dealt with it by having the refs, coaches, and parents make sure the kids knew it wasn't allowed, and putting weights on the back of the nets.

This needs a law. Preferable named after a child. Any one of the couple that have died will do.

How many died riding with mom on the way to practice...

BTW if you make it to the bottom of the page there is something about schoolgirl night at a club in Tampa.

vodka: Funny how even the manufacturers realize that nobody anchors them. Why don't they just design the damn goals with more weight on the back so they are stable by default. Morons.

There's a legal reason.
If you claim your design prevents the goal from tipping when someone hangs on it (by default, no extra anchors) and it tips and hurts/kills a kid, you are in for a hell of a lawsuit. Its better legally to say "your stupid little shiats shouldn't have used the equipment the wrong way" than to build your equipment to resist (thus encourage) improper use.

fruitloop: Actually, it's not the goal tipping over - it's pulling the goal down and smashing yourself in the skull.

Where's Romero?

"Pulling down on a big, heavy object can be dangerous."

SuperKate: This was a problem when I was coaching minor soccer. Kids like to grab the crossbar and swing back and forth. It's very easy then for the net to tip over, and it is dangerous.

We dealt with it by having the refs, coaches, and parents make sure the kids knew it wasn't allowed, and putting weights on the back of the nets.

A strong enough wind can tip them too, when I was a kid I had one tip over on me while I was goalie. I was standing up not falling down with it so it didn't have much force when it hit me.

I dislocated my shoulder on a cemented-in soccer post so I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

Be smart - don't let your children become goalkeepers.

This wouldn't even be an issue if parents (like those in Canada) would heed Rush Limbaugh's Keep Our Own Kids Safe campaign against soccer. (new window)

Another example. Even back in 2007, Rush was proven right. (new window)

/won't someone PLEASE think of the children?

I saw a goal that wasn't anchored flip over the goalie in a game, because it wasn't staked down. Goals are fine when they're anchored, but deadly when they're not. It's the eqiluivalent of jacking up your car without a safety support and crawling under it. The jack probably won't break, but if it does you're crushed.

Thatsracist.gif

I though those portable goals were only for temporary fields? Around here the goal posts are three 3 foot diameter steel pipes welded together and set in concrete about 6 feet into the ground.

Only time I ever saw one of those bastards injury somebody is when one yahoo got his foot in the way of one as we were setting it. I call him a yahoo, because he was wearing tennis shoes and not steel toed boots. Needless to say it broke his foot in three places.

I expected this to be silly (big surprise, people can be hurt playing sports), but really, there's no excuse not to secure the goal posts. No one is saying the world has to be made out of foam so that no kiddies get a bump. They're saying that people are blatantly disregarding simple safety techniques.

Also, FTFA:

"He ran after me and pushed me out of the way," Cody remembered. "I looked behind me and (the goal) fell on him."

I wonder if that's how it happened, or if this kid changed it in his mind to make his brother's death have some meaning. That's not me being snarky. I'm genuinely wondering. Either way, it's a hell of a thing to live with.

mcsestretch: I dislocated my shoulder on a cemented-in soccer post so I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

Be smart - don't let your children become goalkeepers.

Having cut my shin open to the bone on one of the little hooks on the back of a post once (I wasn't paying much attention to where I was) I must concur.

Silly article, everyone knows the best way to crush a watermelon is off the face of an amazing race contestant with a slingshot.

A former student of mine had this happen to her while vacationing in Cuba with her boyfriend. She was swinging from the crossbar when it came down on her and landed on her back, She's now in a wheelchair with no feeling in her legs. The story of driving 2.5 hours down a dirt road in an 'ambulance' (econoline van with a mattress in the back) is just horrifying. We had a fundraiser to pay for the air ambulance to fly her back to Canada.. $40K, or something like that.

/CSB

Leave it to WTSP to make a nonstory sound scary.

quansem: A former student of mine had this happen to her while vacationing in Cuba with her boyfriend. She was swinging from the crossbar when it came down on her and landed on her back, She's now in a wheelchair with no feeling in her legs. The story of driving 2.5 hours down a dirt road in an 'ambulance' (econoline van with a mattress in the back) is just horrifying. We had a fundraiser to pay for the air ambulance to fly her back to Canada.. $40K, or something like that.

/CSB

Cuba actually has excellent healthcare. It's a bit of an exception within the region.

Point is, if she was going to be paralyzed anyway, you could have saved yourself $40k.

The name of the game is football, not soccer!

Naesen
vodka: Funny how even the manufacturers realize that nobody anchors them. Why don't they just design the damn goals with more weight on the back so they are stable by default. Morons.

There's a legal reason.
If you claim your design prevents the goal from tipping when someone hangs on it (by default, no extra anchors) and it tips and hurts/kills a kid, you are in for a hell of a lawsuit. Its better legally to say "your stupid little shiats shouldn't have used the equipment the wrong way" than to build your equipment to resist (thus encourage) improper use.

There's also a practical reason.
If the goals are meant to stay where they are, the posts are so deep down in the ground that the thing won't topple over.
Otherwise they get carried around a lot and then lighter is better.

FTFA
"had jumped up to fix a dangling net. Corey's brother, Cody, was standing next to him.

"He ran after me and pushed me out of the way," Cody remembered. "I looked behind me and (the goal) fell on him."

The goal manufacturer is to blame for not having pictures everywhere telling people that "hanging from the goal can cause it to tip which can inflect serious bodily harm or death if not anchored correctly".

I_C_Weener: I check the anchoring for every goal for every game my kids play. I coach 10 year olds right now. Just old enough to hang from the goal and think it is cool. The anchors are straight pins where we are. Fine if the ground isn't so dry they don't stick in the ground.

I make sure the kids know why they shouldn't hang on the goals. But it doesn't stop them completely.

I think better anchors or better design would help a lot.

Seems to me that the reason that the groundskeepers don't want to drive huge spikes in the ground without a locate might be the fear of hitting irrigation tubing or high voltage.

/put cement in the pipe and sandbags over the pipes