Football Jargon
Football jargon abounds. Some has been used for a hundred years, and some is newly-minted by writers, journalists, commentators and pundits. Football is a beautiful game riddled with ugly clichés.
Or are those old and new phrases part of the fabric of the game, a comfortable shorthand, polished and honed, giving cosy familiarity to Match of the Day and our sports pages?
Here are some prime examples of football jargon, with my own translations.
The lads are up for this one
The lads have been gated for two days and have been threatened individually and collectively.
He’ll run it off
We’ve used all the subs and he can get a scan later.
We hope to do business in the window
We’re broke. We need a striker but the owner’s cheque book’s in Dubai.
A game of two halves
The manager threatened to sack them all at half-time. A miserable first half performance will be followed by a mad rally at the start of the second leading to a defensive error.
Always a hard place to come
We lost heavily in a northern town on a wet Tuesday night.
Taking one for the team
Fouling an opponent, getting a yellow card for the common good. A form of footballing nobility.
Playing out from the back
The goalie taps the ball to a full back who is heavily marked and panics, often resulting in a goal. This method only works if all involved are intelligent, observant and skilful. It should therefore be avoided.
Professional foul
An unprofessional foul. Used when an opponent is doing too well near your penalty area, but not in it.
Route One
Hoofing the ball up the pitch to the striker. He may not be there. But given the randomness of the game it’s much safer than passing out from the back and you never know…
Possession football
Pretty passing game often resulting in desperate Route One tactics when you need a goal.
Deemed
As in “deemed a foul”. Meaning the ref got it wrong.
Parking the bus
Defending with all eleven players. A poor team uses this against a strong one, and why not? Rather like curling up in a ball if someone’s beating you up. Just makes sense.
Diminutive
The word used of a small player. No one knows why.
Axe
What happens to a manager after about a year. Good short word for a headline.
Aplomb
Much used to give class to a goal or pass. Hardly used outside the beautiful game.
Stalwart
An old player who’s been on the books for years. Never was much good. But probably a nice bloke.
Editorial discretion
Every page of every book, every article in every magazine or newspaper (even the online ones) has been edited and proofread. And yet everywhere you look clichés and jargon abound.
This raises big questions about how far a copy-editor should go in avoiding or reducing them.
Is it the editor’s job? It is certainly too late to interfere by the time a proofreader sees a final proof. But the editor is in the driving seat (or, to continue the football theme, perhaps the editor is pacing about on the touchline chewing his eighteenth strip of Wrigley’s Doublemint). Should jargon be queried with the author or even removed? Our proofreading and copy-editing seminars and distance learning courses look at this problem.