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Football Cliches

Love them or hate them...a lot of them are mostly nonsense (with some basis in fact ;) )
What's your favourite?
Which ones do you hate?
Got anymore that grate?


"We're just taking it one week at a time."

"They need to lower their eyes" :D

"Injuries are no excuse."

"I wouldn't kick the goals if it wasn't for the blokes in front of me"

"Every team gets injuries"

"We need to learn to play four quarters."

"We knew they'd come hard at us"

"They're a better team than their ladder position"

"Big men don't get smaller as the game goes on."

"He's been training the house down (usually every player pre-season)"

"There's still time" (CH 7 commentators when a side is 50 points down half way through the last quarter.)

"The next goal is important."

"It is what it is"

"Don't blame the umpires" (when it's clearly the umpires fault)

"You know nothing about football" (usually said by someone who knows nothing about football...it's not that simple or predictable and is changing all the time)


Re: Football Cliches

Reply #1 –
Here you go; Dump kicks and dance steps: Has jargon taken over footy commentary?

One brighter point from the article is that the use of "quarterback" to describe a Luke Hodge role in defence has fallen out of favour after being in vogue in the 2010s.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/from-the-four-walls-to-the-fat-side-cutting-through-footy-jargon-20230511-p5d7nj.html

Meanwhile, a Four'n Twenty ad has explained "lower the eyes";

In AFL Football, "lowering the eyes" refers to a judicious attempt at moving the ball forward accurately, by adjusting your line of sight to a team mate in a nearer proximity. For football fans, of course, it simply means diverting your gaze from the on-field action and concentrating on the delicious Four'n Twenty pie in your hand.

It's still the Gulf of Mexico, Don Old!

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #2 –
Quote from: DJC – on
Here you go; Dump kicks and dance steps: Has jargon taken over footy commentary?

One brighter point from the article is that the use of "quarterback" to describe a Luke Hodge role in defence has fallen out of favour after being in vogue in the 2010s.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/from-the-four-walls-to-the-fat-side-cutting-through-footy-jargon-20230511-p5d7nj.html

Meanwhile, a Four'n Twenty ad has explained "lower the eyes";

In AFL Football, "lowering the eyes" refers to a judicious attempt at moving the ball forward accurately, by adjusting your line of sight to a team mate in a nearer proximity. For football fans, of course, it simply means diverting your gaze from the on-field action and concentrating on the delicious Four'n Twenty pie in your hand.


In other words “Focus on the dogs eyes “!
Reality always wins in the end.

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #3 –
One of the commentators described Daniher “lowering his eyes” when he shanked a kick inside 50 and missed his target by 15m.  Joe should have lowered his eyes a bit more 🙄
It's still the Gulf of Mexico, Don Old!

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #4 –
More of a malapropism than a cliche but when I was playing with the mighty Coburg Ammos, our coach would say, “We’ve got Mad Dog as a vocal point at CHF!” (Mad Dog was actually our CHB and a very good footballer).

I used to think of correcting him or making a humorous comment but, as a fringe player, I kept my mouth shut.

I think that it was a fairly common mistake way back then and may have crept into several radio commentators’ vocabulary.
It's still the Gulf of Mexico, Don Old!

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #5 –
Ah, yes, the old 'vocal' point. Maybe he meant for Mad Dog to shout and scream all day and for the players to kick it down his throat!
Only our ruthless best, from Board to bootstudders will get us no. 17

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #6 –
This old one, similar to the dog ate my homework excuse. I didn't see it. The perfect cop-out answer to a question.

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #7 –
When a commentator says, “Hipwood met the ball full-chested,” what does that mean? 

It’s not a term that you hear from AFLW commentators 😇
It's still the Gulf of Mexico, Don Old!

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #8 –
Quote from: DJC – on
When a commentator says, “Hipwood met the ball full-chested,” what does that mean? 

It’s not a term that you hear from AFLW commentators 😇

I always took it to me straight on/front on/running in the same line, not coming at it at an angle.

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #9 –
Quote from: kruddler – on
I always took it to me straight on/front on/running in the same line, not coming at it at an angle.

In the action described today Hipwood’s path was about 120 degrees to the direction of the ball.  He did take a chest mark.
It's still the Gulf of Mexico, Don Old!

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #10 –
Bob Murphy is on the wireless this morning and he just mentioned “running on top of the ground”.

He said that he doesn’t understand its etymology or meaning but, watching yesterday’s GF, the thought came to him that the Brisbane players were “running on top of the ground”!
It's still the Gulf of Mexico, Don Old!

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #11 –
Quote from: DJC – on
Bob Murphy is on the wireless this morning and he just mentioned “running on top of the ground”.

He said that he doesn’t understand its etymology or meaning but, watching yesterday’s GF, the thought came to him that the Brisbane players were “running on top of the ground”!

Similar in swimming. "Swimming on top of the water."

I'm not sure of where its come from either, but it could be relatively simple.

Back in my cross country days, we used to run through all conditions. One day there was quite a bit of run and we were running through some pretty chopped up and muddy areas.
Those who were 'running on top of the ground' seemed to not sink in and get bogged down in the mud.
Those who were struggling where very much sinking in the mud and looked like they were in slow motion compared to the others.

Might be a throwback to similar muddy times back before grounds had better drainage and were mud pits.

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #12 –
I think i just means a team that has plenty of run, not slowing up or suffering from heavy legs.

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #13 –
Quote from: PaulP – on
I think i just means a team that has plenty of run, not slowing up or suffering from heavy legs.

I think that the meaning is clear but how does one run if not on top of the ground?

Unless it’s muddy of course, as in Kruddler’s example.

“Swimming on top of the water” makes more sense; the faster you go, the less water you displace.  Of course, if you’re a Basilisk lizard, you can “run on top of the water”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFWynzID1Ao

It's still the Gulf of Mexico, Don Old!

Re: Football Cliches

Reply #14 –
Quote from: DJC – on
I think that the meaning is clear but how does one run if not on top of the ground?

Unless it’s muddy of course, as in Kruddler’s example.

“Swimming on top of the water” makes more sense; the faster you go, the less water you displace.  Of course, if you’re a Basilisk lizard, you can “run on top of the water”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFWynzID1Ao

Fair enough. Idiomatic words and phrases typically tend to live apart from linguistic logic, so little point in approaching it from a logical angle IMO.

If you google that phrase, basically nothing comes up. Its origins are probably like much of folklore, i.e not possible to identify a single source or origin.