Scoring in association football
A goal cannot be scored directly from a dropped ball, indirect free kick or a throw-in.
[3] In practice such a situation is improbable given the distances involved, but this can occur in variations of the sport where the Laws are adapted to play on a smaller area.
[4] If the ball goes directly into the opponent's goal from the hands or arm of a player in any other circumstances, the handling is penalised as a handball offence (even if it was unintentional, or would otherwise have been legal).
Since 2012, goal-line technology has been used at the highest levels of professional football; it employs a system of cameras and/or sensors to provide the referee with a discreet signal when the ball has crossed the goal line.
Generally, this is the last player to touch the ball, notwithstanding inconsequential deflections such as failed attempts at a save.
The Premier League in England has a dedicated Dubious Goals Committee for resolving attribution disputes.
In association football, a hat-trick refers to the uncommon feat of scoring three goals in a single game.
While prose match reports have long mentioned when one player contributes to an attack which leads to a goal scored by another, it is only since the 1990s that statistics for such "assists" have been commonly tracked.
Players will typically celebrate scoring a goal with team mates, occasionally putting on elaborate displays for the crowd.
In the more formalised football games of English public schools and universities, the object was typically to kick the ball between goal-posts guarded by the opposition.
[42] Morley's proposal met with objections expressed in correspondence from J. C. Thring of Uppingham School, and also from William Chesterman of Sheffield F. C.,[43] principally on the grounds that it would be difficult to judge whether a ball that went above the height of the posts should count as a goal; Thring correctly predicted that a crossbar "w[ould] be adopted in the end".
[46] According to a contemporary newspaper report of the meeting:[47] The chairman urged some strong reasons why a goal should not be won so long as the ball was between the posts at no matter what height, and quoted an instance which occurred at Reigate, where one of the opposite side raised the ball quite 90 feet in the air between the goal posts.
The original FA laws of 1863 disallowed a goal when the ball was "thrown, knocked on, or carried",[45] even if the handling was otherwise legal.
[57] This indirect free-kick was thought to be an inadequate remedy for a handball which prevented an otherwise-certain goal.
[62]This goal, which was similar to today's penalty try in rugby, survived as part of the game for only one season.
[65] The laws have at various times restricted the ability to score from a set piece situation (such as a free kick or corner-kick).
