Tag archives: football

The Great British Summer of sport: 6 topical posts you won’t want to miss

Regardless of heat or sunshine, the Great British Summer has now truly arrived. If you’re outdoors playing sports, or indoors watching them, here are a few of our game, set, or match-related blog posts to keep you full of fun facts. 1.  Anyone for tennis? Whether you were on team Murray or team Federer, this [...]

Posted on: August 6 2012 | Comments: 0 | Categories: English in use | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Of game changers and moving goalposts – football idioms in the English language

Football (or soccer, for avoidance of doubt) is one of those odd sports that tend to polarize: you either love it or you hate it. No matter whether you’re a lover or a hater, you will come across plenty of football-related idioms in everyday life. This is not in the least surprising, considering that The [...]

Posted on: June 28 2012 | Posted by: | Comments: 3 | Categories: English in use | Tags: , , , , ,

The language of the beautiful game (just don’t mention the S-word)

With the European Football Championships little more than a month away, if you are an England fan, you’d be forgiven for feeling a little concerned. England’s best player is suspended, the former captain is due to face trial in July, and the new manager has been in place for less than a week. If being [...]

Posted on: May 4 2012 | Posted by: | Comments: 2 | Categories: English in use | Tags: , , , , , ,

Goals galore but no parrots: a hundred-word football vocabulary

  Fabio Capello, the Italian-born England football manager, was recently reported as saying that he could manage his players with just one hundred words of English. At the time there was much speculation as to which hundred words he would need to achieve this, and the BBC contacted Oxford Dictionaries for a list of the [...]

Posted on: May 12 2011 | Comments: 0 | Categories: Interactive features | Tags: , ,