Penalty-taking: Behind the footballer stands the scientist

PARIS: Way back in September 1891, when Wolverhampton Wanderers' John Heath, in a match against Accrington Stanley, stepped up to take the world's first penalty, the spot kick was a simple case of hoofing the ball into the back of the net. 

The penalty had been introduced a few months earlier to thwart the use of fouls to prevent goals. But the sponsors of this change hardly suspected that penalty-taking would one day become so important it would be elevated almost to the status of science.