Football news from Japan, Northern Ireland and the Premier League in England all feature in this week’s good, the bad and the ugly section of languagecaster’s football podcast. Click on the links below to find out more on all of these stories. Explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) can be found at the foot of the page.
Good
In Japan, Shimzu, one of the original J-League sides from 1993, crushed derby rivals Iwata 5-1 and move up the league into third (see the goals here). Not only a fine win, but it also puts pressure on the two leaders Kashima and Kawasaki.
And talking about fine wins, Burnley add Everton’s scalp to that of Manchester United in another home win for the newly promoted side who have now picked up six points out of nine and are well on the way to making their home ground, Turf Moor, a fortress.
Bad
Diving has been in the news this week – Arsene Wenger has had to defend his player, Eduardo, against allegations of diving to win a penalty against Celtic. Players from the Scottish side were furious and have demanded that Eduardo be banned and today UEFA have set up an investigation into the incident.
However, while Wenger took the traditional managers line that he would never encourage diving, Volker Finke, coach of Japanese side Urawa Reds, has criticised one of his players for NOT diving. Finke was fuming after striker Escudero didn’t go down after a challenge in the box. The manager is probably feeling the pressure as his team, one of the biggest in Japan, are well of the pace in the league and criticism of his style and performance mounts.
Ugly
A fan attacks a player in the Irish Football Association Premier League in Northern Ireland. After Glentoran player Gary Hamilton scored against his former club Portadown a fan raced onto the pitch and attempted to punch the striker. In response, Glentoran fans tried to storm the pitch. Now, while attacking a player on the pitch is bad enough, it pales in comparison to attacking a player in their own house. West Ham squad member Calum Davenport was stabbed in both his legs and his mother was also injured when two assailants forced their way into his family home. Very ugly indeed and we hope the injuries don’t prove career threatening.
It has been an ugly week for Davenport’s club West Ham after their supporters were involved in a running battle with fans from Millwall, their arch rivals, on Tuesday night in the Carling Cup here in London. There is no love lost between these two clubs – one from the East and the other from South London – and there has been a history of violence between these two sets of fans. Fighting started around the stadium hours before the game kicked off and the atmosphere during the match could best be described as poisonous – there were two pitch invasions as the home supporters attempted to attack the Millwall fans, post-match accusations of racial abuse towards players on both sides and a host of arrests and future banning orders. An ugly affair indeed.
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Vocabulary
Here are some of the words and phrases from the good, the bad and the ugly section from this week’s show. You can download the podcast here.
crushed: To be beaten decisively, to be thrashed
Burnley add Everton’s scalp: Burnley beat Everton
a fortress: A castle, a stronghold – a place that is difficult to win at
was fuming: To be really angry
in the box: In the penalty area
to storm the pitch: To invade the pitch – when fans come onto the pitch to cause trouble
assailants: Attackers – people threatening you with violence
arch rivals: Strong rivals, deep rivalry exists
Carling Cup: A domestic competiton in England – regarded as the third tournament after the Premier League and the FA Cup
There is no love lost between these two clubs: They hate each other!/p>
poisonous: Here the meaning refers to the nasty atmosphere between the two sets of fans
pitch invasions : When fans run onto the pitch to cause trouble (See storm the pitch above)
racial abuse: When people use language to attack another’s race or skin colour
banning orders: These are given to fans who misbehave – it usually means that the fan cannot return to the stadium for a period of time
