What is a friendly?
This is a non-competition game, the results of which do not count for standings in a league or tournament. The two sides are just having a friendly game.
Why is it said that soccer players dribble?
The word dribble dates back to the sixteenth century when it was used, as it is now, to describe a flow of drips or drops — though back then drips and drops were called “dribs.” It was first used in relation to soccer in 1863 by British journalist A.G. Guillemard, who described an Eton player “dribbling the ball slowly forward before his feet” in the October issue of The Sporting Gazette. The term describes skillful movement of the ball upfield in short, small kicks.
What is a tackle?
Unlike American football, bringing another player to the ground is a no-no in soccer. To tackle another player means to take the ball from him with your feet. In soccer, you tackle the ball, not the player.
What is a square ball?
No, it is not a cube. Such a ball shape would not work well for soccer — or any other game! A square ball is one passed on the ground in a line parallel to the touchlines on the pitch.
What does it mean to say the ball has gone into touch?
It means it is dead, because it has crossed the touchlines. When the ball goes into the area outside of the field of play, beyond the touchlines, it may be legally touched by a player’s hands, so the term means that the ball has gone into that area.
What is a banana kick?
This is a type of kick that gives the ball a curved trajectory — a bend like a banana — used to get the ball around a goaltender or defender.
What is a bicycle kick?
This is a highly entertaining acrobatic shot. A player kicks the ball in mid-air backwards and over his own head, usually making contact above waist level. It is so named because the player’s legs spin as though on a bicycle. It is also called the scissors kick.
Who called soccer “the beautiful game”?
The phrase “The Beautiful Game” as a synonym for soccer was first coined by Didi (Waldyr Pereira), a Brazilian superstar soccer player. The Brazilian Portuguese expression Joga player. The Brazilian Portuguese expression Bonito (to “play beautifully”) parallels this phrase. In 1977 Pelé, one of soccer’s greatest superstars, named his autobiography My Life and the Beautiful Game.
Quickies
Did you know …
that because of its regulation depth of six yards, the goal area is sometimes simply called “the six”?
When was the first radio broadcast of a soccer game?
On January 22, 1927, Arsenal played Sheffield United to a 1–1 draw in a Division One match at Highbury. It was the first match ever covered by radio, as the BBC called the game from pitch-side.
When was the first television transmission of a soccer game?
In 1937 the BBC was on hand to televise, for the first time, portions of the FA Cup final between Preston North End and Sunderland from Wembley Stadium in London. final between Preston North End and Sunderland The following year, the BBC televised the entire match.
Top Ten Soccer Movies
• Escape to Victory (1981)
• Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
• Das Wunder von Bern (The Miracle of Bern) 2003)
• My Name is Joe (1998)
• Mean Machine (2001)
• The Match (1999)
• Ladybugs (1992)
• When Saturday Comes (1996)
• A Shot at Glory (2000)
• Phörpa (The Cup)
Who were Mitchell & Kenyon?
The Mitchell & Kenyon film company was a pioneer of early commercial movies. Based in Blackburn in Lancashire, England, at the start of the twentieth century, they were best known for minor fictional narrative films. In 1994, a hoard of 800 Mitchell & Kenyon film negatives were discovered and restored. Amongst this collection are numerous films documenting soccer matches between English FA teams just after the turn of the century. The films are in storage at the British Film Institute, but can be viewed on YouTube.com
What are WAGs?
WAGs is an acronym created by the British tabloid press to mean Soccer “wives and girlfriends.” The acronym has been in use since 1994, but became extremely popular during the 2006 World Cup, in Germany, when the press gave increasing gossip coverage to the socializing and shopping activities of the English WAGs, who were based in the German town of Baden Baden.
What is Panini ?
These are not something you eat at an Italian soccer game. Panini is the brand name of an Italian firm that produces collectable stickers. The company is based in Modena and named after the Panini brothers, who founded it in 1961. It became famous in the 1960s for its soccer collections, which can now sometimes reach very high prices on the collectors’ market. The slogan “Stick with Panini” could once be heard in a jingle following the television advertisements that Panini aired during children’s programming.
What are ultras?
Ultras are a sanctioned form of team supporters renowned for their fanatical and elaborate displays. They are predominantly European and South American followers of soccer teams. Ultras frequently display their support through choreographed performances called tifos and also through “terrace chants,” which are sung en masse, often to well-known tunes, but with the words changed.
Top Ten Soccer Books
• Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
• Among the Thugs by Bill Buford
• Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer by David Winner
• Soccer in Sun and Shadow by Edward Galeano
• How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer
