Falcon (sport)

All you want to know about Falcon (sport)

Falcon is a humorous term in sport describing an accidental knock to the head by sports equipment.

The phrase originated from rugby league in Australia. On the 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, had the nickname "The Maltese Falcon", and thus the 'Golden Falcon Award' begun to be informally awarded to players whose head came into contact with the football in professional matches. Gradually this was shortened to just 'Falcon', and its use became more widespread, referring to any instance of the ball coming into contact with a person's head in any sport.