Falcon (sport)
Encyclopedia
Falcon is a tongue-in-cheek term used, often in different forms of football
, to describe an accidental knock to the head with the ball.
The phrase originated from rugby league
in Australia
. On The Footy Show
, casual presenter Mario Fenech
's weekly segment was introduced by a piece of footage from his playing days showing a ball being passed accidentally into his head. Fenech, being of Maltese descent, has the nickname "The Maltese Falcon", and thus the 'Golden Falcon Award' began to be informally awarded to players whose head came into contact with the football in professional matches. This was shortened to just 'Falcon', and its use became more widespread, referring to any instance of an object coming into contact with a person's head.
Football
Football may refer to one of a number of team sports which all involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer"...
, to describe an accidental knock to the head with the ball.
The phrase originated from rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. On The Footy Show
The NRL Footy Show
The Footy Show is a Logie Award-winning Australian sports variety television programme, shown on the Nine Network and its affiliates. Following the success of the AFL program of the same name, the Nine Network quickly developed a version for the rugby league market. The rugby league version has...
, casual presenter Mario Fenech
Mario Fenech
Mario Fenech is a Maltese-Australian rugby league personality. He is a former player of the game for New South Wales, and is a regular guest on The Footy Show. His favoured position was as Hooker, where he represented NSW. In his later career he became a Prop-forward...
's weekly segment was introduced by a piece of footage from his playing days showing a ball being passed accidentally into his head. Fenech, being of Maltese descent, has the nickname "The Maltese Falcon", and thus the 'Golden Falcon Award' began to be informally awarded to players whose head came into contact with the football in professional matches. This was shortened to just 'Falcon', and its use became more widespread, referring to any instance of an object coming into contact with a person's head.