Part 5 – 'The back stick'

The ‘back stick’ refers to what people used to call the ‘far post’. It became a fashionable expression a few years ago and now seems to be falling from favour, fortunately.

The curious thing is that, from the moment when the expression ‘back stick’ was coined, there never seemed to be any reference to the ‘front stick’. Perhaps the kind of people who gave themselves a headache thinking up these smart new ideas simply ran out of inspiration. Or possibly they thought that as long as you had something as wonderful as a ‘back stick’, the goal would continue to stand up without needing any further assistance.

Happily, there are signs that sanity is returning – because more and more people seem to be referring to the ‘near post’ and the ‘far post’. Without getting any stick.