Tall goalkeepers have longer careers

I've been thinking about this for a while, mainly because I have nothing else better to do. The reason I think the title of this thread might be true is that there are many examples of tall goalkeepers going on to play to, or at least close to 40. While the shorter goalkeepers seem to show signs of losing their talent before 35, sometimes even earlier.

Some examples of tall goalkeepers playing consistently well into their late 30's or to 40:

*van der Sar - retired at 40 while still on top form. Height 6 6'
*Buffon - still playing at 35, won Serie A golakeeper of the year award for 2011-2012 season. Height: 6 3'
*Schwarzer - still playing at 40 in the premiership. Height 6 5'
*Friedel - Still playing at 41, played to a very high level until ousted by younger replacement Lloris.


Some examples of shorter goalkeepers that struggle(d) when over 30/nearing 35:

*Barthez - Left Man Utd at 32 iirc and struggled until retirement in 2006. Height 5 11'
*Given - Ousted by Joe Hart at Man City when 34, failed to establish himself consistently since then, even with Villa. Height 6 1'
*Valdes - Making more and more mistakes now and has called into question his future with Barcelona at 31. Height 6 1' (He could still step it up)


I could think of more examples the other day regarding the shorter goalkeepers. Maybe someone else has some, but the point is that the three shorter ones, especially the first two, played to a very high level then struggled once they went further and further from 30. The taller goalkeepers didn't. So what's your take on it? How important is height to be a great goalkeeper for a long time?

Thecon21

What height were Kevin Pressman and Mark Crossley? They started playing ball in the Bronze age to only retire not too long back..

DazMarz

That Mexican keeper, Campos or something who wore the really weird and colourful strips, was only 5' 8" or something but was a pretty decent keeper from what I remember. Dunno how long his career was, tho.

EDIT: Yeah, Jorge Campos. He was actually only 5' 6" and made 130 Appearances for Mexico!!! Jesus...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Campos

OneColdHand

Buffon is 6 3'? I wouldn't say that's exceptionally tall though?

Amirani

Friedel is 2cm taller than Given, hardly significant.

enfant terrible

Neville Southall 6 1' retired aged 44

Dave0301

Massimo Taibi.....Height 6 3"

Just sayin....:p

Oranage2

Maybe its got to do with muscles, shorter keepers need to be more 'explosive' when diving to make up for the reach so as they age muscle power decrease. tall lanky keepers don't use the fast twitch muscles as much and also because they don't rely on relaxes as much they can read the ball better in terms of positioning.

Just my theory though.

Guy:Incognito

enfant terrible wrote: »

Neville Southall 6 1' retired aged 44

Everyone was smaller during the industrial revolution though.a giant of his time.

NiallSparky

NiallSparky wrote: »

Friedel is 2cm taller than Given, hardly significant.

Good point, I should have realised that but didn't even put his height in my post, I must have forgotten. I'd be interested to see the difference between their reach as Friedel looks a completely different build to Given. In fact Given looks heavier despite Friedel having about 5-6 kgs more on him.

Dave0301

Dave0301 wrote: »

Massimo Taibi.....Height 6 3"

Just sayin....:p

Well, he was never good... :P

Esse85

Schwarzer - Height 6 5'

He doesn't look 6"5, I would of guessed 6"3 at the most.

Rekop dog

Sick research.

DazMarz

DazMarz wrote: »

That Mexican keeper, Campos or something who wore the really weird and colourful strips, was only 5' 8" or something but was a pretty decent keeper from what I remember. Dunno how long his career was, tho.

EDIT: Yeah, Jorge Campos. He was actually only 5' 6" and made 130 Appearances for Mexico!!! Jesus...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Campos

He retired at about 35 I think, maybe even 34. Amazingly short for a goalkeeper.

Esse85 wrote: »

Schwarzer - Height 6 5'

He doesn't look 6"5, I would of guessed 6"3 at the most.

I think some goalkeepers don't look tall because of their build, they tend to have exceptional reaches and thus wider shoulders so don't look so "lanky".

RoryMac

Fraser Forster from Celtic will probably play till he's 50 so

CSF

Definitely think it's to do with having to stretch those inches less to get to the ball. Inches can make such a difference when the body become less agile. Let the inuendos begin....

elefant

So....

Goalkeepers are generally tall. Goalkeepers have longer careers than outfield players.

Mythbusted!!

eagle eye

Dino Zoff, Peter Shilton, Pat Jennings, Nigel Martyn just to name a couple of the smaller ones.

IncognitoMan

Kristof Van Hout will play into his 50s so

Morzadec

OneColdHand wrote: »

Buffon is 6 3'? I wouldn't say that's exceptionally tall though?

In the modern era I would say anything less than 6'2 is approaching short. I agree that Buffon is normal height for a goalkeeper.

Friedel is about 6'1 according to his wiki which I would argue is short for a goalkeeper.

So not much to this theory, at least given the examples involved.

Fwiw I don't think we'll see any top class goalkeepers under 6ft in the future. Casillas is 6ft, but I imagine even someone of his height will be a rarity.

Skylinehead

Sacramento wrote: »

*Valdes - Making more and more mistakes now and has called into question his future with Barcelona at 31. Height 6 1' (He could still step it up)

Victor Valdes is better than he's ever been in his life.

Lawrence1895

Toni Schumacher. He was Borussia Dortmund's goalkeeper coach in the 1990s. The last matchday 1996 (Borussia were crowned champions already), he came on as a sub in the Westfalenstadion for the last few minutes. I think, we was 46 or 47

But I never bothered looking up, how tall he is...taller than me anyway :P

Fr Tod Umptious

Lars1916 wrote: »

Toni Schumacher. He was Borussia Dortmund's goalkeeper coach in the 1990s. The last matchday 1996 (Borussia were crowned champions already), he came on as a sub in the Westfalenstadion for the last few minutes. I think, we was 46 or 47

But I never bothered looking up, how tall he is...taller than me anyway :P

Wow Toni Schumacher mentioned for something other than the 1982 semi final
That's a first.

Moneymaker

14 years and counting. Still only 31 and a mere 6'0

Moneymaker

Moneymaker wrote: »

Casillas pic

14 years and counting. Still only 31 and a mere 6'0

Yeah but will he keep up the form up to and past 35? Or will he struggle as his athleticism fades? Great keeper but he's in his early 30's. My point was regarding keepers nearing and over 35.

cournioni

Moneymaker wrote: »

14 years and counting. Still only 31 and a mere 6'0

He has struggled quite a bit this past year and made a few mistakes. He was even dropped by Mourinho earlier in the season.