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Last week, Rio Ferdinand, of England and Manchester United, pulled out of playing for the national side because of injury, and on this week’s main report, we look at three of the common injuries footballers suffer. You can listen to the report by clicking on the link below, while vocabulary support (in bold) appears at the foot of the report.
The language of Injuries
When talking about injuries, first of all we need to look at some of the verbs used with the noun injury. You can suffer or pick up an injury – the latter, pick up, is usually used when the injury was not the result of an opposing players tackle for example, in training; a player can be sidelined with an injury – meaning to be out of the game for a period of time; they can pull out of or withdraw from the side or team because of an injury, or be ruled out – this is when the manager decides not to pick a player because of the injury.
Next, let’s look at some of the most common types of injury in football. First there is the hamstring injury. The hamstring is the large muscle at the back of the leg and it is often strained, which means stretched, torn or pulled. Here is an example sentence from a Guardian newspaper article: “Andy Carroll looked set to miss England’s World Cup qualifiers after straining a hamstring during his debut for West Ham.”
Second, is one of the most serious, and it is ligament damage. This is usually a knee ligament injury, but can also be damage to the ankle. You will often hear that a player has suffered cruciate ligament damage – the ligament is the tissue that connects muscle to bone, and the cruciate ligament is the ligament inside the knee connecting the thigh to the shin. Here is the example sentence from the Guardian: “Dawson will be out of action for up to eight weeks with knee ligament damage.”
Third, is a sprained ankle. This is when the ankle, the joint between the leg and the foot, is twisted or stretched. This injury often happens when a player moves direction quickly or an opposing player hits the joint during a tackle. Here is an example sentence, again from the Guardian: “Theo Walcott was ruled out with a sprained ankle suffered in last night’s 1-0 win over Stoke City.”
So, three common football injuries – a hamstring injury, ligament damage, and a sprained ankle.
Vocabulary support
debut: first game
