In this week’s football language post we look at two of the newspaper headlines that described the recent Euro 2022 win for hosts England: one from The Guardian and one from The Times. You can see more newspaper headlines here and don’t forget we have hundreds more explanations of football language in our football glossary. If you have questions or comments about this or any other phrase then email us at: admin@languagecaster.com.
The Times: Lionesses Bring It Home
The Times newspaper, like many of the English newspapers, put this historic story about the England Women’s side winning their first ever tournament on the front page. This reflected not only the importance of the win but also the fact that there has been a change in the way that women’s sport is viewed in the country. The main headline uses two cultural references that most people in the UK would know. The first is the nickname for the side, ‘The Lionesses‘. The men’s side is sometimes known as The Three Lions (you can see them on the national shirt) and so the female team are known as the Lionesses. The second part of the headline, ‘brings it home‘ describes the fact that the team has won the trophy – ‘it’ refers to football and in this case the Euro 2022 title. Why has the verb ‘bring home‘ been used, especially when the team has never won the title before? Well, this is a reference to a famous song in the UK called ‘Three Lions: Football’s ComingA Home‘ which was first released in 1996 – just before the 1996 Men’s European Championships. The song reflects on the fact that England have not won anything since 1966 and wonders if they could do it this time. The song is about hope based on many years of hurt. So, with the 2022 Euro victory for the Lionesses, the newspapers have said that they have brought it home – football has (finally) come home.
The Guardian: Game Changers
In the Guardian newspaper’s headline, again on the front page, the focus is slightly different. The headline here, ‘Game Changers‘ suggests that this victory for the Lionesses will change the way that people see women’s sport in the future. A player can change a game in football through their performance – think about a substitute coming on and scoring the winner. But in this title the game does not just refer to the final but to the overall game of football, i.e. the world of football and that from now it will be viewed in a much more positive light.
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