It happens every four years. It always surfaces about two weeks before a World Cup tournament is due to start. And there are always two sides to the story. What is it?

The debate about the footballs being used and the reaction of the goalkeepers to them, that’s what.

 

Four of the most high profile shot stoppers in the game have made their feelings quite clear about the balls that will be used during South Africa 2010. And while some will see it as just a pre-exit excuse route for them, others will nod their heads and say ‘yep, it happens every time’.

The Adidas Jabulani will mean plenty of spectacular-looking goals and an equal number of bemused-looking keepers. No doubt Cristiano Ronaldo will relish the prospect of being in possession of one anywhere within 40-odd yards of the goal. Yet when world class number one’s like Gianluigi Buffon and Iker Casillas make comment and are joined by their peers who have performed in domestic, European and international competition to great acclaim, there cannot be simply smoke, can there?

England’s David James has described it as ‘dreadful’ and Fulham’s Aussie goalie Mark Schwarzer said that the ball ‘has a mind of its own’. Yet the name Jabulani reportedly means ‘To Rejoice’ so surely somebody must be happy with it?

Actually, every player who scores a goal, every teams that wins a game, every supporter who sees his team benefit from a goalkeeper being sent the wrong way by a ball that does more u-turns than a pensioner on a motorway will love it. After all, everybody is playing with the same ball. And when it comes down to it, football is all about scoring goals.

Maybe that’s why the keepers hate it.