“What would you do ?” used to figure on the cover of a boys’ comic called “Boys’ World”. This was a publication, obviously, aimed at boys and first appeared on January 26th 1963. There were 89 issues before the comic was merged with Eagle in 1964. The last issue of “Boys’ World” came out on October 3rd 1964.
I used to buy “Boys’ World”, and this was mainly for the front cover, which always featured a kind of puzzle. It was called “What would you do ?” and was based on somebody being in what Ned Flanders would call “A dilly of a pickle”. Here’s the situation:
The yellow box sets the scene, and the task is for you to solve the situation. Perhaps you might like to write your idea in the “Comments” section.
Here’s the yellow box enlarged:
What an unusual event. The centre forward shoots very powerfully, the goalie can’t stop it, and the brown leather ball sizzles into the net. Thousands of people are ecstatic. Their team has scored. But the referee has found some nits to pick. He saw the ball deflate in mid-air as it flew towards the goal. Will it be a goal ? What will his decision be?
Depends on who the teams are, I suppose. The forward who has just had a shot is wearing a yellow shirt and white shorts. That’s an old Tottenham Hotspur away kit from the late 1960s. And the red and white stripes is Atletico de Madrid. No problem for the referee there then.
Incidentally, the yellow box’s infatuation with the orange arrow quickly diminished, and she soon parted from him. She realised that he was only after her puzzle setting skills and once she’d set the scene a few times for him, he left her high and dry in a cheap hotel room in Cromer:
John Knifton 
I say it is a goal/
Thank you for your contribution! I can’t really answer without giving the answer away, so there will be a short wait for the official solution!
Incidentally, I bought “The Grey Wolves of Eriboll” and while I haven’t read it yet, it does look to be a very sincere and serious piece of research and I’m looking forward to taking it out of the “In Tray” and making a start on it.
In my ignorance I’d say that deflation would have affected the flight and pace of the ball – therefore No goal.
Half right, Derrick. Your final decision is fine, but not the reasoning behind it, although as you are clearly a rugby fan rather than a football fan, that is understandable.
🙂
Your answer was a bit like those of my maths masters 🙂
Yes, I see what you mean ! Perhaps we had the same teacher. Mr Ellington, nickname “Duke”, hobby, smoking.
🙂
The grassy pitch looks a bit unlikely. My memory is of professional football, in those days, being played on turf that was more mud than your actual green stuff.
Memories of the Baseball Ground!
We had season tickets at the Baseball Ground from 1971-1980 odd, and I remember that game with the disappearing penalty spot. In the 1930s, my Dad saw a similar sort of problem when “Boy” Bastin of Arsenal broke the wooden crossbar with a ball that must have been a lot heavier than the present one. The had to bring out old planks and use those to cure the problem.
If it’s Baseball Ground mud you want, then BT occasionally show Derby v Stoke from 1974-1975. How good a team those Derby players might have been if they’d had a present day pitch to play on! The mud bath of that era certainly did them no favours.
And when you ply your trade on a bottomless quagmire: wear white boots! Gladys in his pomp.
https://beyondthelastman.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/alan-hinton-derby-country-1973.jpg.
Ah, this one is tough for me, being as I only know a minimum of soccer rules. I’d venture to guess it would depend on WHERE the ball was when it started to deflate, because the trajectory would change as it lost air.
Sorry, but not correct I’m afraid. I bet you know more about soccer rules than I know about either baseball or American football though. In the latter sports I have a vague idea about what the two teams are trying to do but no knowledge whatsoever about infringements of the rules.
One of our channels now broadcasts college football from what to me are “Far away places with strange sounding names”. That is a really beautiful occasion with the bright sunshine, the green grass, the brilliant clothes they wear and, for me, the mysterious, almost inexplicable things that happen throughout the entire game.
Thanks, John. I suppose that’s why the NFL is starting to play one or two games a year in London. I enjoy both the pros and college.
My knowledge of the rules of football is negligible but I suspect the goal should not be allowed. I am guessing that the ball must meet some specification as to diameter etc. – perhaps also air pressure? – so as it passed the goal-post it would fail to meet that specification and thus the goal would be void.
You are wise in your generation ! You’ll have to wait until the Solution comes out to collect your star prize. And for me to think what it’s going to be.
I also think that it has to meet some specification to be allowed. I’m sure I’ve seen a ball replaced in a match along time ago (in the days of Dickie Davies to be exact!) because it was not pumped up properly. So I’d say it was disallowed.
The plight of the orange arrow and the yellow box is a sad one, I hope they both find true love once more, although I doubt it in Cromer (no offence readers from Cromer).
You’re more or less right, although I was side-tracked a little by mention of Dickie Davies, one of the most under-rated of sports broadcasters, and certainly the one who looked most like Herman Munster’s wife, Lily.
There’s certainly a striking (tenuous pun intended) resemblance there!
No goal. Restart with a dropped ball.
Were you a referee in a past life? ……although don’t forget to see the official unveiling of the answer in a couple of days’ time. Perhaps I should move into the world of “bizarre events in a football game”. “What do you do if a dog runs on the pitch? and so on. (Or a camel, possibly?)
Welllll ….. I’d say if I were the ref, due to the ball deflating in midair that would cause the ball’s speed to be different then if it were fully inflated. Due to less velocity the ball’s deflated speed probably would be faster if it had remained fully inflated. So, no goal.
I don’t follow 100% of your Physics lesson on the differing behaviours of flying objects, but you got the answer right, and that’s what counts!
LOL@John. Did little ‘o me go over your head? Did I forget to mention I know other then photography? Teehee ….. I’m a brainimaniac disguised as a photographer. It’s not often, however, I get to show what I know.
And I am stunned I AGAIN got the answer right! I’m on a roll! YAY!