This post explains 
the football term ‘to bully an opponent’.
- Find out more about this phrase by reading the transcript below.
- You can also find many more examples of soccer vocabulary by going to our football cliches page here and our huge football glossary here.
To bully an opponent
When someone bullies someone else it means that they treat others – usually smaller or weaker – in a bad way. The phrase in football does not have such a negative meaning and is used when one player physically dominates another in a match, so for example, a forward easily pushes aside the defender when challenging for a ball. You might sometimes hear people say that a player ‘bullied the defence’ which means that he or she was much stronger than the defence.
Example: ‘Employing the muscular Italian Stefano Okaka to bully the visitors’ centre backs…’ (Jim White in the Telegraph online, 13th August, 2017).
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What does “bully” mean in this context?
What does “bully” mean in this context (football/soccer)?
34 min Toure bullies the ball off Diame and shuttles forward but when he plays in Silva he takes too long and is robbed. West Ham break through Downing but Demichelis is not going to be mugged and gets there to clear.
Dear me, Leicester. They’ve been absolutely bullied here. West Ham are first to everything.
To bully an opponent is to be physically stronger than the opponent.
I think this is a very good website because in the last sentence it stated both girls and boys,this is good because girls and boys play sports!
Thanks for the comment Tom! Yes, we try to be as inclusive as we can. What teams do you follow?
Damian