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This learn English through football podcast explains the language of football: the words, phrases, and cliches used in the game. A This week, we look at the word ‘byline’, and how is it different from goal line. There is a transcript of the show below, which can be used by learners of English to practice listening and reading skills. It can also be used by teachers of English to create activities, such as fill in the blanks, true/false, comprehension questions, sentence ordering activities, etc. You can also check out our massive glossary of footballing phrases here. We have hundreds of previous posts and podcasts too on our website. All A can access these resources for free. A Let us know if you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
Learn English Through Football
DB: Hi there everyone. Welcome to languagecaster.com’s football language podcast. These podcast explain the words, phrases and cliches used in the beautiful game of football. My name’s Damon, and I’m based in Tokyo, while Damian, the other half of the team, is based in London. It’s international football at the moment and most domestic leagues are taking a break. I wonder if your watching any of the international matches where you are.
Over here, Japan took on North Korea, in an ASEAN World Cup qualifying second round match, beating them 1-0, and will play the return leg next week. Japan look favourites to qualify for the third round of qualifying, but nothing is taken for granted when playing their bitter rivals. Check out an excellent Guardian article for more on this rivalry.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Polish)
DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster and that message was in Polish.
OK, on today’s podcast, I’m going to be looking at the word ‘byline‘, which is something we have talked about before, way back in 2017. Recently, we received a comment about this word, and I thought it would be worth talking about it again.
Byline
DB: Ok, well let’s start with what we mean by the byline. The football pitch is marked with white lines to help players, the referee and spectators better follow the game. So, for example, we have the penalty area, the six-yard box, the centre circle and of course the touchlines. The shorter lines that run at either end of the pitch are known as the bylines.
Often, attacking teams will try to take the ball to the byline, as it opens up spaces and also makes it easier to deliver dangerous crosses into the box.
Goal Line
Now, we had a comment this week from Colin, questioning our definition of byline. This is what he said: ‘There is no byline. Check law 1. Ita€™s a goal line.‘
Now, Colin is right in saying that the IFAB Rules of the Game dealing with the field of play, or the pitch, state that ‘The two longer boundary lines are touchlines. The two shorter lines are goal lines.‘ They don’t say byline.
But there is a difference between the official, and formal, way of talking about the game, and the way people who watch and play the game speak about it. Take for example Law 1 itself. This is about the Field of Play, but most people call the ‘field of play’ the pitch.
In the same way, the goal line is the official way of talking about the shorter line at the end of the pitch, but byline is also used.
Goal line vs Byline
There is also a practical point to think about too. What about goal line technology? This is the technology that tracks the ball and tells the referee if the ball has crossed the goal line or not. The referee can then award a goal or say the ball had not crossed the line. In this case, the goal line means the line between the goal posts. Not the line between the goal post and the corner flag.
If we say byline, it is clear that we mean the line between the corner flag and the goal post.
Examples
DB: There is an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary using byline in this sense from 1963: ‘A cross pass from the byline… left St. John with an easy sidefoot push in.’
And more examples can be found in articles and reports about football every week, including this one from a minute-by-minute report on Wales vs Finland yesterday: ‘Peltola makes his way to the byline down the left. His cross is straight at Ward at the near post.‘
Stinger: Your are listening to languagecaster.com (in Welsh)
Goodbye
DB: And in honour of Wales’ 4-1 victory over Finland that message was in Welsh. So, we have seen that goal line is the official way of describing the white line that runs from corner flag to corner flag at the goal end of the pitch, or field of play.
But we have also talked about how goal line may be a more useful word to talk about the line between the goal posts. You will often hear it in the phrase goal line technology.
Byline, on the other hand, is a common word describing the ends of the pitch. This does not include the line between the goal posts. You will often read it or hear it being used to describe a player ‘getting to’ or ‘reaching’ the byline and then crossing the ball.
Hopefully Colin is satisfied with the explanation!
And that brings us to the end of today’s short podcast. Follow us on all the usual social media sites. Leave comments and questions via our forum at languagecaster.com. And, if you have any ideas for football phrases, any questions, predictions, comments, just let us know.
Thanks for listening and enjoy all the football. Ta-ra!
