Learn English Through Football Podcast: Fifth Successive Title

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In this football language podcast we take a look back at the final day from the 2024 Women’s Super League which saw Chelsea win their fifth successive title. We also look at the phrase ‘romped to victory‘. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.

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Learn English through Football Podcast: Fifth Successive Title

DF: Hello everyone. You’re listening to languagecaster.com’s football-language podcast – the show for everyone who wants to practice their English and who loves the beautiful game of football. My name is Damian and I am one half of the Languagecaster team – the other of course is Damon who is based in Tokyo, Japan. Now, regular listeners to the show will know that Damon has recently posted some great podcasts around the phrases, ‘cameo‘; ‘to slalom through the defence‘ and ‘to claw‘. Come along to Languagecaster.com to listen or to subscribe to our football-language podcasts.A  Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Dutch). A  Now on today’s short podcast I will be looking at the final weekend of the Women’s Super League (WSL) season here in England and to talk about Chelsea who won their fifth title in a row; their fifth successive title. And to help me do this I will be looking at some of the language used in a BBC match report on the game, including the phrase, ‘romp to victory‘.A  Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French)

Introduction

OK, so, the final day of the Women’s Super League here in England saw two teams with a chance of winning this year’s [2024] title – a two-horse race between holders Chelsea and Manchester City. City were in the driving seat two weeks ago when they were winning 1-0 against Arsenal which would have put them six points clear of Chelsea only for two late goals to give Arsenal the win. Chelsea then thrashed already-relegated Bristol City 8-0 and then won their game in hand to draw level on points and have a better goal difference before the final match of the season. On the final day of the season, Manchester City knew that they had to better Chelsea’s performance and score three more goals than their rivals to give them their first title since 2016. Of course, this was also Chelsea manager Emma Hayes’ final match before she moves onto coaching the US Women’s National Team.

Fifth Successive Title

So, this is the opening sentence from the report and it gives a quick summary to the game with four different pieces of information. The first one tells us that Chelsea won the title – they wrapped up the title which means they completed the win – and that this was their fifth title in a row. The sentence uses the adjective successive which means in a sequence or consecutively, so Chelsea have now won the last five WSL titles in England – the first team to do so. The next part of the sentence mentions how they won the title by thrashing Manchester United away from home (at Old Trafford). Of course a thrashing is when one team easily beats another team and scores lots of goals – the final score was 6-0 so a real thrashing indeed. The last part of the sentence mentions the Chelsea manager Emma Hayes and that this was her final game as manager of the club and they do this because she has been so important in the club’s recent history – A she has won a remarkable 15 trophies in her 12 years at the club.A 

Romped to Victory

This part of the report lists the Chelsea goal scorers including a double (or brace) from their striker, their Colombian striker, Ramirez before explaining that the Blues ‘romped to victory‘. Now, this phrase means that a team easily wins a game – they won without the opposition troubling them too much. They romped to victory.

Ran riot/Hangover

Other phrases that emerged from the game yesterday include Chelsea ‘ran riot‘ against United which is another way of saying they completely dominated their opponents – they raced into a two-goal lead which means they scored the first two goals very early in the game. This killed off the home side who never looked like coming back into the game. Before the game many people had thought that United would cause Chelsea problems especially after winning their first ever FA Cup title last week but instead they didn’t trouble Chelsea at all so maybe they suffered from an FA Cup Final hangover. A hangover is the feeling the day after drinking quite a lot of alcohol – you don’t feel so healthy and move a little slower – so maybe United were not so motivated to do so well after winning the cup the previous week.A  Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Dulwich Hamlet fan)

Glossary

DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com, and that message was from a (fan from) local non-league side (from south London) Dulwich Hamlet. Remember, that at Languagecaster’s site you can find out more about some of the words and phrases that we have already discussed today, along with hundreds more football-language expressions – come along to our football-language glossary. A-BC-DE-FG-HI-K L-NO-QR-ST-VW-Z0-9

Football Language Glossary

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Greek).

Contact

DF: OK, if you have any questions or comments about any of the words and phrases from today or indeed any other football language then drop us an email at admin@languagecaster.com. You can also look out for us on social media; we also have a football-language forum where you can ask and answer any questions you have on the language of football. And of course, don’t forget to subscribe to our football-language podcasts. We have recently posted podcasts around the phrases, ‘the standings‘; ‘If you’d offered me that…‘ – a really interesting cliche from Damon last week. You can access these and all of our other football-language podcasts at Languagecaster.com.

Learning English Through Football Podcast

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Korean).

Goodbye

DF: OK, don’t forget there’s a transcript for this short podcast with lots of vocabulary support – come along and have a look. OK, that’s it for this podcast in which we looked at some language from the final day of the Women’s Super League (the WSL) and in particular we looked at the phrases, ‘to romp to victory‘; ‘run riot‘ and ‘successive titles‘. Let us know if you hear any of these phrases in any language over the next week or so. Enjoy all the football this week and we’ll be back soon with some more football language. Bye bye!

Related Vocabulary

• WSL: Bring down an opponent
• Run riot