I was reading the messages about sell on clauses in the Adrian Mariappa thread and Jack Lesterfans comment made me think of Gareth Bale. What did Southampton get as a sell on after they sold him to Tottenham Hotspur? As is is, nothing as they accepted early payment as they had financial trouble. Here is now the reason for the thread standing alone. I read about Gareth Bale in the Wikipedia article and the text describes a goal against Arsenal with words "scoring a free kick inside the near post." And I have heard this in radio commentaries where you can not see anything either. Can someone explain this? Near is close, so if the writer is to the left of goal as he looks the goal is scored to the left side and if he is with the right side the the goal is to the right or is it the post nearest to the footballer scoring the goal? So the near post could be left side for one team and right for the other or even both posts. Why not say left or right it would be easier?
It's most commonly used for corners where a ball towards the near post or far post in relation to the kicker is easier to visualise than left or right goalpost.
Goalkeepers are usually more disappointed to let them in 'at the near post' rather than have a shot beat them 'across the face'. It doesn't matter which side it is, just whichever is nearer to the goalkeepers defensive position or the attackers shooting position, just as you thought.
