A toe punt (also known as a toe-poke, toe poker or a toe-ender) is a method of kicking the ball in

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and occasionally in

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

. Unlike other methods of kicking, the toe punt uses the front of the

boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

rather than the instep or laces. Toe punts (known as "straight-on" or "straight-toe") were the predominant form of kicking for

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

s in gridiron-based forms of football until the 1960s. A special boot was used with a flat front surface, as using a toe kick with a regular shoe with a rounded or pointed toe could cause the ball to travel in an unpredictable direction. The introduction of instep kicking (known as the "soccer-style kick") to the game in the 1960s, along with a rule change in 1977 banning the special shoe (one of several rules introduced to curb the influence of kickers in the game), eventually led to the end of the use of toe kicks in American and Canadian football.

Notable toe punts

*The toe-poke is deemed to be

Romário Romário de Souza Faria (born 29 January 1966), known simply as Romário (), is a Brazilian politician and former professional association football, footballer who is currently a Senator for Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro and the presi ...

’s trademark finish. His opening goal in a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

for Barcelona against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in 1994 saw him drag the ball around the defender without it leaving his foot before finishing with a toe-poke into the corner of the net."Strikers' trademark goals: the Thierry Henry control-and-place, the Romario toe-poke and more"
''The Telegraph''. Retrieved 5 December 2013 Another memorable Romário toe-poke finish occurred at the 1994 World Cup against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. * Ronaldo scored what he called “a Romário-style goal” for Brazil against Turkey in the 2002 World Cup semi-final with a toe-poke finish with little back-lift while on the run – a finish he learned while playing

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

in his youth. *

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or left winger. Widely reg ...

scored with a spectacular toe-poke for

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

against Chelsea in 2005 where he feinted to shoot before striking the ball with a no back-lift toe-poke past Chelsea goalkeeper

Petr Čech Petr Čech (; born 20 May 1982) is a Czech former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and current ice hockey player who plays as a goaltender for Oxford City Stars. He has ...

from 20 yards out. *

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

scored for

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

with a toe-poke in the opening match of the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, before paying tribute to the master of the art in a post-game press conference, “It was a Romário goal. Most of us in the team have played futsal, where you use the toe a lot. It was the only thing I could do at that moment.” *In the AFL, Geelong Cats player Matthew Scarlett famously employed a toe-poke in the final minutes of the

2009 AFL Grand Final The 2009 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the St Kilda Football Club and the Geelong Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 26 September 2009. It was the 113th annual AFL Grand Final, grand final ...

which led to a match-winning goal from Paul Chapman via Gary Ablett Jr. and Travis Varcoe.

References

{{reflist Terminology used in multiple sports Association football terminology American football terminology Australian rules football terminology Canadian football terminology Rugby league terminology Rugby union terminology

Notable toe punts

See also

References