Is St Helens Sky’s Indian call centre, another reporter for them Megan Wellens 

Well it's been this way for a century. I think a lot of passes travel forward relative to the ground but it's only the ones close to the limit that look suss. I agree with Hull FC pass looked outrageous but it was a long pass delivered at pace. The camera shows the ball did leave the passer backwards/flat. 

I trust the physics but out of interest was your 18mph an example or did sky say that, of the latter, I'm actually suitably impressed by the analysis.

So a flat ball at 0mph travelling backwards will travel at 18mph forward assuming the player is at that speed at the time of passing (ignoring wind resistant etc).


Forgive me, I still reserve the right to shout "FORWARD" in the ground as the pre match Stella overrules my inner Einstein 

The sky commentators were bending over backwards to justify the pass & Dave Woods was creaming himself when Hull made headway.

Same here ... it was a MILE Forward just look at the cut lines of the grass.

It was my example based on typical sprinting speed and kinetic energy. I'm not sure on your example as if the passer is carrying the ball it will have the same velocity as the player until it is released. In my example I also neglected wind resistance and gravity. It did look a mile forward but it's laid out in the laws of the game. 


Section 10 - Knock on and Forward Pass
Notes Direction of Pass
The direction of a pass is relative to the player making it
and not to the actual path relative to the ground. A player
running towards their opponents’ goal line may throw the
ball towards a colleague who is behind them but because
of the thrower’s own momentum the ball travels forward
relative to the ground. This is not a forward pass as the
thrower has not passed the ball forward in relation to
themself. This is particularly noticeable when a running
player makes a high, lobbed pass.