Falcon (sport)

Falcon is a tongue-in-cheek term that is used in different forms of football to describe an accidental knock to the head with the ball.

The phrase originated from rugby league in Australia. On 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, has the nickname "The Maltese Falcon", and thus the 'Golden Falcon Award' began to be informally awarded to players whose head came into contact with the football in professional matches. This was shortened to just 'Falcon', and its use became more widespread with use common amongst Australia's sporting codes referring to any instance of an object, usually a ball, coming into contact with a person's head.