soccer usages

[Kathleen E. Miller]

As a five-year season ticket holder to DC United (our local MLS team), and
one of six Anglo members of the Latino fan club - it seems to be dependent
on who you're talking to, whether it's a US American, a Latin American, or
a European (occasionally you'll get an US American who follows Brit Footy
avidly and therefore uses the more Euro terms "striker" and "keeper" all
the time).  Among the US Americans - "goalie" is more prevalent than
"keeper", but you'll hear "who's on goal?" more often than "who's the
goalie/keeper?" (On Fritz's BTW - does that mean your players have to get
the ball past their OWN goalie to score?) We refer to the "team" and the
"league" but it's a "match" not a "game" and a "pitch" not a "field." The
positions are as Fritz's mentions.

On a side note on soccer fan usages; one of my favorites - which comes from
the Anglo fan club that sits right next to us - whenever they think that a
player from the opposing team has "taken a dive" and is faking his injuries
- they scream "Greg Louganis!"

Katy


Kathleen E. Miller
Research Assistant to William Safire
The New York Times



At 08:19 AM 10/24/02 -0600, you wrote:
>I used to coach youth soccer in Montana. The positions were officially
>designated as Fritz indicates; however, my players preferred the more
>exciting sounding 'striker' for 'forward'. Sometimes we also used
>'halfback' in place of 'mid'. When I played intramural in California
>(years ago!) 'fullback' was more prevalent than 'defender'. As to
>'goalie', AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) issued an edict one
>year that we were to say 'keeper' or 'goalkeeper' instead - but of course,
>nobody paid any attention! 'Teams' and 'games' were the usual usage in our
>league.
>
>Scott Swanson
>
>On Wed, 23 Oct 2002, Fritz Juengling wrote:
>
> > I have been curious about various soccer terms on both sides of the
> pond for
> > some time.  I have had kids playing soccer and I have been a coach for
> years.
> >  I do not know whether the terms we use are common in the US or just Oregon
> > (or just Salem); I hope others will chime in.  The positions we have are
> > forward, midfielder (usually shortened to 'mid') and defender.  We also
> have
> > a 'goalie', altho I do quite often hear 'keeper.'  We often preface each
> > position with 'left, center or right'. We also have soccer teams and games.
> > A club to me would suggest the organization or league in which a team
> plays.
> > BTW, our goalie defends the OTHER team's goal, not ours.
> > Fritz
> >
> >