There are some football phrases that remain as relevant today as the day they were first uttered, whilst others require some explaining to anyone new to the game.
It’s fair to say that ‘the woodwork’ definitely fits into the latter category, even if it can be largely understood simply by virtue of what it sounds like you’re referencing when you say it.
In short, it is a phrase used to refer to the frame of the goal, with commentators, pundits and supporters all liable to refer to something coming ‘off the woodwork’, in spite of the fact that goals haven’t been made from wood for decades.
It Simply Means the Frame of the Goal
The earliest reference to the ball ‘hitting the woodwork’ in the English language was reportedly in The Times in 1960, although ‘hit the bar’ was printed in 1894 and ‘hit the post’ six years later. In the 2002 World Cup, France exited the competition at the group stage having failed to score a single goal, but Les Bleus did ‘hit the woodwork’ on five occasions. The first ‘goals’ created in an earlier version of a sport that was similar to football involved the use of bamboo sticks in China in around 32 BC, whilst the servants of the King of England used the doorway of goals in the 17th century.
Almost an opening goal from what would have been the most unlikely source.
Pittsburgh’s Luke Biasi’s floated ball goes over everyone and hit the woodwork before Tulsa can clear. #USL-C
— Nicholas Murray (@njemurray.bsky.social) Nov 22, 2025 at 17:32
It was the mid-1800s when the shift to something more akin to what we’re used to seeing today began. In 1801, the description of a goal declared it to be ‘two sticks driven into the ground’, then the Cambridge Rules and Eton Rules began to define things further. In 1866, the Football Association amended its own rules to say that some tape had to run between the two posts, with the crossbar officially being added in 1882. As you can imagine, those early matches saw wood used for the goalposts and crossbar, largely because it was simple, cheap and available material.
It took until the 1980s for the wood to be replaced by metal, whilst nowadays the technological advancements mean that goals are mostly made from aluminium in the professional game. Even so, that hangover from the early days of football when wood was used remains in the lexicon of the football lover, meaning that people will continue to talk about the ball ‘hitting the woodwork’ when it has struck either the post or the crossbar. In fairness to those that say it, it certainly has more of a ring to it than ‘hitting the aluminium’, so it’s hardly surprising that wood has remained the go-to material to speak of.