On Soccer Terms

Received a lot comments on my last post. Minus my own comment we're at six braces and counting...that's 12 for the soccer impaired.

Seems it unsettled a few of you to learn that I have no interest in speaking soccerese, either online or in print. But before I pointed it out how many of you even noticed?

Two posts ago, when I wrote that few MLS players can match Marvell Wynne's "flat-out speed," were any of you confused? Did any of you think to yourselves "I wish he had used 'pace' because I don't quite know what 'speed' means..."?

After reading Wednesday's story about Julius James, were any of you still in the dark about his "match fitness," because I didn't use that exact phrase, or did you understand that he's just about ready to play?

Exactly.

I know you guys are smart, so I don't worry about you making the intuitive leap from soccer jargon to plain English.

So before any more of you wonder whether I'm trying to alienate my readers by excluding certain phrases from my copy, you need to remember two things:

1. Changing location changes language

On some level even the most ardent soccer purist understands that. Toronto FC plays in Major League Soccer, and not "Major League Football." And they play at BMO Field instead of "BMO Pitch." Are any of you planning a campaign to scrap those names in favour of something more "football specific"? I doubt it. You understand that to market this sport in North American you have to North Americanize certain small details.

At the same time, while working the soccer beat, I've learned few words and phrases and synonyms specific to the sport -- "dead leg," "niggle," "transfer window," etc. -- but it doesn't mean I'll ever use them in my copy outside direct quotes.

I'm pretty sure that if the Indianapolis Colts played the Chicago Bears in London, writers there would discuss what happened in "training." They would talk about Devin Hester's "pace" and wonder if Marvin Harrison was "match fit" after the knee injuries that hampered him last year.

But I doubt they'd call Bob Sanders a "centre back."

After all, we're talking "football," not "football."

2. I'm a Writer, not a stenographer

When I covered cops and courts I dealt with police-speak every day. Following up on a police report I might phone the police station and hear something like this:

The incident began as a confontation involving two adolescent males, which then escalated into an altercation, which culminated in one of the adolescents receiving sharp instrument wounds to the abdomen.

In the paper I'd summarize it this way.

An argument between two teenage boys turned into a fight, which ended when one of the boys allegedly stabbed the other in the stomach.

Which account makes more sense to you? Which is easier to read?

The point here is that outside direct quotes, I don't have to speak to my readers the same way my sources and interview subjects speak to me.

In fact, it's usually better if I don't.

What I have to do is tell good stories in language everyone can understand, which often means replacing genre-specific jargon -- whether it's "a brace" or a "sharp instrument wound" -- with something more universal that enlightens the uninformed without insulting the experts.

Everyone understands "two." Everyone understands "stab."

That's writing 101....

Still with me?

Good.

On of the commenters, I think it was "Skinn," asked me for my official position on the use of soccer specific terms....

SO HERE IT IS

For me, they fall into three categories.

First, you have terms specific to the game. These are words you MUST use to make any story make sense....free kick, six-yard box, player positions, etc. I learned the hard way that soccer doesn't have a "crease," and I can't call a centre back a "free safety" just because I'm comfortable with American football terminology. In this instance, you learn the language and you use it in your stories.

Then you have phrases that could go either way. Personally, I'm comfortable with either "supporter" or "fan." I realize that in other sports a "reserve team" might becalled a "practice squad," but day in, day out, "reserves" works for me.

After that, you have what I lovingly call "soccerese." These aren't "soccer specific" terms. They're just terms soccer people like to use, terms that have perfectly suitable plain English synonyms, and terms that sound fine with an English accent, but sound utterly pompous when uttered by people like me.

For example, if I'm writing about T.J. Ford, I'm writing about his speed. If I'm writing about Jose Reyes, I'm also writing about speed. So why if I'm writing about Dane Richards, do I suddenly write about "pace"?

How does that make sense?

It's pretentious, so I avoid it.

Same goes for "fitness," which sometimes refers to conditioning and sometimes refers to health. If a guy is healthy I'll say he's healthy. If he's in shape I'll say he's in shape.

And a brace?

Didn't even know what it was until January. I had to ask Cathal Kelly.

And again, this is something I think readers understand when they think about it. Last year I took a lot of heat when I wrote that Danny Dichio "crashed the crease."

Fair enough.

But two weeks ago when I mentioned that Landon Donovan had both L.A. Galaxy goals, nobody emailed me asking "where's my brace?"

And if you had I'd have said, "it's on your ankle, where it belongs."

Off to practice now... I hope this blog didn't make me late...

-- Morgan Campbell

Comments

[Skinn]

Well put Morgan. You're absolutely right that coverage and understanding are key.

We could quibble over the semantic differences between what you call "soccerese" and I call the language and the culture of football, what you call pretentious and I see as specific, but--as I've already said--I think regardless of the terms used, the important thing is TFC, the fact that there is a growing community of people who want to talk about soccer (and not just about how to talk about soccer) and about TFC.

Keep up the very good work--this blogs is one of the first I check everyday!

[doug]

good article morgan.

it's a shame though that you had to waste your space answering to the nouveau-soccer-snobs in toronto when you could have been letting us know some team news about a possible tebily signing, a james' debut and cunningham's happiness / frame of mind riding the bench - issues that will actually affect he team's performance on saturday against a strong KC side, er team.

ps - do you think TFC will have the rain covers over the bench on saturday - i fear my seats are going to go from great to obstructed view :)

[John Dinner]

Couldn't agree more!
And I am just glad newspapers Canada still use the 'u' in words like honour and neighbour, and 're' in centre even if little red lines appear underneath trying to tell us we've spelled it wrong.

[Troy Kolar]

Good on you Morgan, not backing down from those pretentious yobos (an oxymoron that). By the way, you're writing has shown a lot of pace and nerve lately, probably since you've worked on your footie fitness. I'd say you've moved on from long balls and are passing your way into the box. A brace can't be far way for you ... Troy PS I'm actually serious about you not backing down, although I prefer the word football to soccer (since the rest of the entire footie world does, discounting the Aussies).

[From the North End]

Great article.
I do love the Euro football vocabulary, only becuase it helps me romanticise about the beautiful game overseas. I have thought your reporting has been very good on whole, and also cheeky and funny, like the post above... My issue is that you don't write frequent enough! a story once a week? C'mon, Morgan!

[Chris Smitherman]

Love the condescending tone of this latest blog entry. Hopefully you are replaced soon in writing for the TFC by someone who has knowledge of the sport, and not just an arm-chair fullbacks (thats midfielder - for the less knowledgeable such as yourself).

[Steve]

Agreed! It seems silly to be caught up over words with the same meaning. I believe readers are intelligent enough to get the point. I also agree with your categorization of the terms, and would like to think that they apply in all sports, not just "football" (and I mean the first reference to "football", not the second :-) ).

If some of your audience can't use the English language that they are obviously well versed in to make what I feel is an incredibly small jump from one soccer specific term to another "generic" term, I would suggest that they take themselves out of their own shoes and place themselves in the perspective of a novice, who may be reading about soccer for the first time and who is looking for insight in to the sport in terms that are familiar and common. That person will learn what pace eventually, but would probably like to know from the onset that Marvel Wynne is "wicked fast".

[Tony from Ottawa]

Bit of a silly blog today Morgan, but you do make a good point. I used to live in Toronto and would watch United matches at a bar on Yonge street with lots of die hards.

I used to get a kick out of the ex-pats jargon, but let me tell you, there are few things in this world that sound more rediculous than a guy from Toronto using words like "mate", "ponce" and "bollocks".

[Nick Hector]

Morgan,
When you find yourself asking another writer the meaning of the most basic of terms you are unqualified to report on that subject. Obviously Cathal Kelly, whose knowledge you sought, is the one qualified to write this blog.

[Morgan]

I also agree that readers shouldn´t be too bothered about vocabulary. They should be bothered that some guy who doesn´t know the first thing about soccer has been hired to follow a, erm, soccer team! Surely the Star could have found a decent scribe who knows the game? Would that be too much to ask? I will throw my name into the hat and can provide journalistic work I have done covering soccer/football.

P.S. Using the word "crease" was a cardinal sin and you descerve any critisicm you got for that one, what a joke!

[Justin]

Just stumbled across this blog and I don't know why it exists. The readers clearly have more knowledge of the sport than the author and this article in particular is condescending towards the very fans it should be focussed to.

I don't think there are any hockey or baseball writers who refuse to use "hockey-ese" or "baseball-ese" terms.

When a club like Toronto FC has such a strong support it's a shame there isn't more quality coverage by soccer/football journalists in the daily papers.

The Raptors Blog and the wise Doug Smith should be used as a model for what this Toronto FC Blog should be.

[doug]

i think morgan is doing a great job - i don't think everyone who supports or covers TFC should have to speak in a faux-cockney accent just to prove they know something about soccer.

btw - welcome to TFC Tebily!

[John Dinner]

Morgan, the commenter, not the blogger...if you're going to offer yourself up as a 'decent scribe' you should probably be sure there are no spelling mistakes - 'descerve = deserve'. Kind of like having a spelling mistake on your resume. That's a cardinal sin if you really want a job.

And Morgan the blogger, while at first I couldn't have agreed more with your blog, I think it may have been a bit too early to be jumping on the people who will be initially reading the blog. Justin's comment about using Doug Smith's blog is a good one as he reports on the games and then uses the blog to do some teaching - I don't think he was much of an 'expert' when he first started out. And being a teacher myself, I know generally the best teachers are the students. So here's hoping you can teach the casual fan a thing or two (which I think you may have actully done with this blog, in a tongue-in-cheek way), and that the so-called 'knowledgeable' fans, err, supporters, stick around to help you out.
Love the blog. Don't think your job is in much jeopardy.

[Kregg]

Following a team in only its second year of existence, in a second rate league (no offense MLS) - I think Morgan is doing a fantastic job writing for a diverse knowledge base. He is able to write for the passive, casual and the die hard fan.

This is not England. This is Toronto, CANADA.

You muppets want pretty verbal footy camouflage?

Head across the Atlantic.

[Durby]

Derby=Dahrby?

Anyone going to the Kentucky Daahhrby next year?

[Jason]

From the North End: Before you get too condescending, a full back is a defender. A half back is a midfielder.

Secondly - and as someone who has played soccer, or footy, for twenty some-odd years - some of the terms are strange. And some of them are different here. I've never heard "dead leg" outside of an English broadcast. Seems that people here (soccer players included) use the term "charley horse".

Good blog Morgan, though let's get off the sematics and talk about the Tebily signing instead, okay?

[Craig]

"Love the condescending tone of this latest blog entry. Hopefully you are replaced soon in writing for the TFC by someone who has knowledge of the sport, and not just an arm-chair fullbacks (thats midfielder - for the less knowledgeable such as yourself)."

Yeah... Umm, Chris, last I checked, a fullback was actually a wide defender, not a midfielder. Lecturing about knowledge of the sport while displaying ignorance? Nice. Maybe keeping the language simple in his blog actually has a purpose, hmm?

[Hal]

Keep up the fine reads, Mohrghan. I look forward to it!

[Mike]

Morgan,
Firstly, great work. Keep up the TFC coverage.

Secondly, I don't agree with much of what you wrote.

In Tennis you don't say 15 to nothing, you say 15-Love.

In soccer you dont say one nothing you say 1-nil.

Every sport as it's quirks and soccer is no different. So it's pace, not speed, penalty not PK, etc...

[Sheila Bogan-Yobbo]

Mr Campbell (and posters) I find this to be the good indication's of how a lexicon is in relatons to a regions' many code of the Fotball's game:
http://blogs.smh.com.au/sport/archives/flog/index.html

[bballer]

loved you blog today morgan. the bad thing about people questioning your terminology is the assumption that only fans of the epl follows toronto fc. last i checked, this city has a huge italian community that follows serie a, some fans of la liga and a huge contingency who follows south and central american football. i doubt very much that you have to incorporate their terminology into your blog, so why include english terminology. that is extremely elitist and condescending if you do. the premiership is the dominant football league, not the only football league in the world. leave the english terminology out and maintain a language common to all followers of any league. good work morgan and arsenal 4ever!