On the Spot

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Robert McCrum looks into his family history to find out the origin of the penalty kick.

Robert McCrum looks into his family history to discover the origin of the penalty kick, in a highly personal take on the Northern Irish roots of this sporting psychodrama.

The Penalty Kick in football is a psychological moment of sporting theatre. Consider the penalty shootout climax of the 2022 World Cup Final, France v Argentina, in Qatar. 

At fever-pitch, Gary Lineker, declared: "somewhere in this script, someone made it into a drama."

That someone was the amateur goalkeeper, William McCrum from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, who invented the Penalty Kick at the end of the 19th century. He was Robert McCrum's great-grandfather and, in this documentary, Robert journeys back in time to Milford, Co. Armagh in the 1880s, when football was a rough and often dangerous game. 

As a result, his great-grandfather William, the heir to a linen fortune and a keen amateur goalkeeper, proposed a new and drastic sanction - Rule 13, a penalty kick that would punish foul play.  At first, the International Football Board resisted 'The Irishman's Motion' as an impossible affront to the purity of a noble game and, even after the Penalty Kick was adopted in 1891, it remained controversial. 

Robert visits McCrum Square, Milford, the site of the football pitch where the penalty kick was invented, and discovers that the story of its origin isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. 

Punctuating Robert's search into his fascinating family history are voices highlighting the psychology behind this sporting drama. For the spectators, it's an enthralling agony in several parts, and one that will propel us to the brink of some excruciating sensations - dread, hope, dismay and exhilaration. No other sport is as global in its appeal, with billions of fans for whom football's penalty shootout is the ultimate thriller. 

Robert's documentary is a highly personal and original take on the Northern Irish roots of this sporting psychodrama. 

Produced by Melissa FitzGerald.
A Zinc Audio production for BBC Radio 4

Cover Photo: Milford football team 1898 (William McCrum, the goalkeeper, is seated second in 2nd row, left to right). Thanks to the Milford Buildings Preservation Trust.

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