INTERESTING FACTS WORLD

Incredible and fun facts to explore

Field Goal facts

While investigating facts about Field Goal Basketball and Field Goal Points, I found out little known, but curios details like:

The Colt's punter borrowed $100 for poker and turned it into $1,400. He used the funds for a trip to Miami to take part in a kicking competition for prospects. He made 9 consecutive field goals starting at 25 yards and moving 5 yards out each time. He was then offered a scholarship to WVU.

how field goal distance is measured?

Lacrosse, as originally played by Native Americans, fielded teams from 100 to 1,000 men, with goals 500 yards to 6 miles apart, with games lasting several days, played sunup to sundown. These games tended to become huge mobs of players swarming the ball and slowly moving it across the field.

What's field goal range?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what field goal post. Here are 48 of the best facts about Field Goal Record and Field Goal Post I managed to collect.

what field goal in basketball?

  1. The University of Georgia was caught having a 300-level Coaching Principles and Strategies of Basketball class, attended mainly by its basketball team, where the final exam had questions like "How many points does a 3-point field goal account for in a basketball game?"

  2. About one of the rarest plays in (American) football: The "Fair Catch Kick". After a team calls a fair catch, they can opt to attempt a free kick from the spot of the catch to try for a field goal. Adapted from Rugby, only 24 recorded regular game attempts with 6 successes.

  3. A 1982 World Cup incident where Kuwait's Sheikh stormed onto the field from the stands and threatened to pull his players unless a goal he perceived to be unfair was reversed. The referee then disallowed the goal, marking the only time a World Cup decision was vetoed by a member of the crowd.

  4. The longest field goal kick ever was 78 yards by Ching Do Kim. He kicked it barefoot.

  5. The longest recorded field goals in college football (69 yards) and high school football (68 yards) are each longer than the NFL's professional record (64 yards).

  6. In 1994 West Ham Football club manager Harry Redknapp got frustrated at a fan for bad mouthing one of the players, so the manager gave him the team kit and substituted him onto the field. The fan went on to score a goal in that game.

  7. Tom Dempsey, that the man who set the record for longest field goal in NFL history at 63 yards (a record that stood for 30 years), did so without toes on his kicking foot using a modified shoe with a square patch to contact the ball

  8. A native tribe in California had a game just like soccer, where players kicked the ball through goals on a 100-meter field. Men and women played together, men had to kick the ball, but women could use their hands.

  9. Bob Timberlake, the worst kicker in NFL History (6.7%) was a first team All-American at the University of Michigan serving as team's QB, RB, Punter, and Kicker but was drafted as a kickoff specialist by the NY Giants where he missed all but 1 Field Goals, and concluded his NFL Career 1/15.

  10. After Leon Lett touched the blocked field goal in 1993, a girl sent him aa letter and said mistakes happen. She mentioned a player from the previous year who had the ball knocked out of his hands right before he was supposed to score a touchdown... that player was also Leon Lett.

field goal facts
What is the longest field goal in nfl history?

Field Goal data charts

For your convenience take a look at Field Goal figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.

field goal fact data chart about Kobe Bryant's field goals shot/made throughout the entirety
Kobe Bryant's field goals shot/made throughout the entirety of his career. Truly a legend. #RIPKOBE&GIGI #MAMBAMENTALITY

field goal fact data chart about All 13,733 of Kobe Bryant's career made field goals
All 13,733 of Kobe Bryant's career made field goals

Why field goal in football?

You can easily fact check why is it called a field goal in basketball by examining the linked well-known sources.

In the late '60s and '70s, the Orange Bowl in Miami had a tank with a live dolphin which would jump to celebrate touchdowns and field goals.

In 1911 Jim Thorpe gained national attention as a running back, defensive back, punter, and placekicker and scored all four field goals beating Harvard 18-15.

Soccer fields are called pitches. Pitch and slope have the same meaning in soccer. If the field is a regulation field, it slopes 5 degrees up, from one end of the field to the other. Teams switch goal nets during the game so they both have the same uphill slope for half the game.

Tom Dempsey, who held the record for longest NFL field goal from 1970-2013 was born without toes on his right foot and no fingers on his right hand. He wore a modified shoe with a flattened and enlarged toe surface to kick with.

In a 1982 world cup match between France and Kuwait, the referee invalidated France's 4th goal out of fear after Kuwait's prince entered the field to discuss; two minutes later France scored, again, the 4th goal of the match. This is the only time this has ever happened WC history. - source

When can you kick a field goal?

The Miami Dolphins had an actual dolphin mascot from 1966 to 1968. Her name was Flipper, and she was trained to jump after every field goal and touchdown scored.

How field goals are measured?

Gerald Bull, who was given a 16-inch test gun by the Navy, ran Project HARP (High Altitude Research Project) from a field in Barbados.The goal was to test super high altitude projectiles. In 1966, the HARP gun fired a projectile to 112 miles high, a world record that still stands.

Speedgate - the world's first sport generated by artificial intelligence. It is described as a mixture of soccer, rugby, and football. The AI generated a complete set of rules, with the end goal of scoring points by kicking or passing a ball through a gate at either end of a field.

A football player once blocked a field goal by jumping up at the cross bar and knocking it down. The next season, "goal tending" was made illegal.

The longest field goal in NFL history was kicked by Tom Dempsey in 1970. He was a 22 year old New Orleans Saints kicker. Tom had been born without half of his right foot. He was also born without four fingers on his right hand.

NFL wide receiver Ricky Proehl who played in two Super Bowls against the Patriots, both of which he scored the last touchdown in the final minutes of the game only for Adam Vinatieri to win for the Patriots on a field goal. Both players would later join the Colts and win a Super Bowl XLI.

Field goal infographics

Beautiful visual representation of Field Goal numbers and stats to get perspecive of the whole story.

field goal fact infographic about Kobe Bryant's Career Made Field Goals. Credit to kirkgoldsbe

Kobe Bryant's Career Made Field Goals. Credit to kirkgoldsberry on Instagram.


field goal fact infographic about Every career field goal Kobe Bryant made (13,733)

Every career field goal Kobe Bryant made (13,733)


When do you kick a field goal?

The NFL record for longest field goal was held for 40 years by a man with no toes, Tom Dempsey.

The leading scorer all-time in the NBA, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, only made one 3 point field goal.

Tom Dempsey, a man born without toes on his dominant foot who broke the record for longest Field Goal in the NFL (1970)

How to kick a field goal?

In American football (NFL) there is such a thing as a free kick. When a team does a fair catch on punt they may elect to attempt a field goal on first down and the defense isn't allowed within 10 yards of the kicker. If good the kick counts for the usual 3 points.

The drop-kicked field goal was a common surprise move in 1920s and early 1930s football, but the adoption of a narrow football suitable for passing in 1934 made the drop kick nearly obsolete.

Tom Dempsey kicked the (previously) longest field goal ever... and he did it with only half of a foot.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the highest scoring player in NBA history, only made one 3-point field goal in his entire career.

During the 1936 Olympics Soccer quarter finals, Peruvian fans ran onto the field and attacked an Austrian player. Peru scored two goals during the ensuing chaos.

Buzkashi, the name of Afghanistan's national sport, translates into something like "goat-grabbing." That's the object: Grab the headless, disemboweled animal carcass (sometimes a calf), circle the field and deliver it to the goal.

In the 1961 AFL between Patriots and Texans, a fan snuck onto the field and deflected a goal-winning pass on a play

The Federated States of Micronesia fielded an under-23 football team for the 2015 Pacific Games. In 3 matches, they scored zero goals and conceded 114.

Reggie Ho, who at 5'5" and 135 pounds, made the Notre Dame football team as a walk on kicker, kicked 4/4 field goals against #7 Michigan, then went straight to the library to study medicine after the game.

The longest field goal in organized football is 69 yards. Nice.

The NFL moved the goalposts from the goal line to the back of the field in 1974. It was done for safety reason and making long-range field goals more difficult.

During the 1966 rivalry game between the Florida Gators and the Auburn Tigers, Heisman winning Florida QB Steve Spurrier waved off the starting kicker and kicked the game winning 40 yard field goal himself. He also punted the entire game.

In the qualifying rounds of a soccer tournament between Barbados and Grenada, Barbados had to score a goal on themselves then defend both sides of the field from Grenada, while simultaneously trying to score once more.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Field Goal. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Field Goal so important!

Editor Veselin Nedev Editor