Football Cliches

'A must-have' - The Telegraph 'Book of the Week' - The Independent 'Hilarious' - Sport Magazine From the host of the Football Clichés podcast comes the hilarious and ever-relevant debut book. In what other context do football fans use the words 'aplomb' or 'derisory'? Why don't we use 'rifle' as a verb on the other six days of the week? Why do aggrieved midfielders feel the instinctive need to make a giant ball-shaped gesture with both hands after a mistimed tackle is punished? The more football Adam Hurrey watched, the more he began to spot the recurring mannerisms, behaviours, opinions and iconography that were mindlessly repeated in the football media. Some clichés are ridiculous, some are quaintly outdated, some have survived through their sheer indisputability. Here, featuring gloriously pseudo-scientific diagrams and the inimitable writing style that made footballcliches.com a smash hit, they are covered in all their glory. And if you love this, Adam Hurrey's new follow-up book, Extra Time Beckons, Penalties Loom, is out this September.

A fun, intelligent, and useful guide to understanding the nuanced language of soccer Every week, year-round, legions of devoted soccer fans across the country rise at the crack of dawn or quietly sneak out of work to watch their favorite teams play across the pond—complete with a soundtrack of two cheeky Englishmen spouting a stream of trite phrases and curious words that make maddeningly little sense. They’ll chat about flying teacups and cultured left feet, or point out a player who’s jinking through the corridor of uncertainty, hoping to bag one with aplomb. Confused? Many Brits are, too. In Football Clichés, London-based soccer writer Adam Hurrey amusingly translates the idioms of the sport, from the quaint to the ridiculous. Here you’ll find words for parts of the field and parts of the body; for ways to score a goal and ways to run, walk, or fake an injury. You’ll learn to read the shifting moods of fans at a soccer match and encounter the game’s oddly expressive gestures, which include the muted celebration and the beleaguered manager clap. Perfect for the die-hard or fair-weather fan, Football Clichés celebrates the world of soccer in all its glory.

Dark Horses, Dutch in-fighting, the Group of Death, taking on fluids, writing the Germans off (at your peril)... As the small matter of the World Cup approaches, Adam Hurrey turns his attention to the clichés that abound at football's world stage. FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY Featuring: - World Cup TV preview (BBC vs ITV) - England Expects (And Other World Cup Clichés) - The Perfect World Cup - A Speculative Effort: England at USA '94 Look out for Adam's full-length book, Football Clichés, coming soon.

'At last, the definitive guide to football phraseology across the world... Sparky and very funny.' Paul Hayward, Daily Telegraph ''Amusing and informative in equal measure.' Oliver Kay, The Times An expertly compiled and utterly fascinating compendium of the weird and wonderful words and phrases used to describe football around the world. To speak football is to speak a language of a thousand tongues... In this ground-breaking global glossary of football words and phrases, you'll discover the rich, quirky and joyously creative language used by fans, commentators and players across the world. From placing a shot 'where the owl sleeps' in Brazil, to what it means to use your 'chocolate leg' in the Netherlands, via Wembley-Tor – a phrase adopted by Germans to describe a dubious goal – this comprehensively researched book will entertain and inform in equal measure. Discover the unfortunate Finnish term for a holding midfielder, what it means when South Korean fans get nostalgic about a 'Leeds season' and why Dundee United supporters should keep their heads down in Nigeria. With over 700 terms from 89 countries (including 29 ways to describe a nutmeg), this is the definitive guide to the global language of football.

"Paul Theroux has spent fifty years crossing the globe, adventuring in the exotic, seeking the rich history and folklore of the far away. Now, for the first time, in his tenth travel book, Theroux explores a piece of America--the Deep South. He finds there a paradoxical place, full of incomparable music, unparalleled cuisine, and yet also some of the nation's worst schools, housing, and unemployment rates. It's these parts of the South, so often ignored, that have caught Theroux's keen traveler's eye."--

By turns gleefully precise and happily contrarian, this is a highly opinionated guide to better communication. In Literally, the Best Language Book Ever, author Paul Yeager attacks with a linguistic scalpel the illogical expressions and misappropriated meanings that are so commonplace and annoying. Identifying hundreds of common language miscues, Yeager provides an astute look at the world of words and how we abuse them every day. For the grammar snobs looking for any port in a storm of subpar syntax, or the self-confessed rubes seeking a helping hand, this witty guide can transform even the least literate into the epitome of eloquence.

Transform yourself from sports fan to professional sports journalist Field Guide to Covering Sports, Second Edition goes beyond general guidance about sports writing, offering readers practical advice on covering 20 specific sports. From auto racing to wrestling, author Joe Gisondi gives tips on the seemingly straightforward—like where to stand on the sideline and how to identify a key player—along with the more specialized—such as figuring out shot selection in lacrosse and understanding a coxswain’s call for a harder stroke in rowing. In the new Second Edition, readers also explore sports reporting across multimedia platforms, developing a foundational understanding for social media, mobile media, visual storytelling, writing for television and radio, and applying sabermetrics. Fully revised with new examples and updated information to give readers confidence in covering just about any game, match, meet, race, regatta or tournament, Field Guide to Covering Sports, Second Edition is the ideal go-to resource to have on hand when mastering the beat.

The long-awaited follow-up to Football Clichés, Adam Hurrey's cult classic about the language of football. "Adam Hurrey is the best observer of football culture in the world. He has a knack for either encapsulating something that's always nagged at you or nailing something you can't believe you haven't noticed before." Elis James "The funniest, smartest book on the language of football. It sends out a message, silences the doubters and lets its football do the talking ... a Rolls-Royce of a book." David Goldblatt *** Does language evolve? Yes, it does. Will it ever be acceptable for a football commentator to call a shot that bounces before it goes in 'a screamer'? No, it will not. As the self-appointed world expert on the subject, Adam Hurrey sets off to define the definitive rules of the language of football. He will answer the big questions such as: is it acceptable to say a player is 'breaking their silence' (it's complicated), can headers can be 'lashed' (anatomically impossible), whether a penalty shootout could ever be described as 'late drama' (truly abhorrent), how many games constitute a 'bumper' day of Premier League action (minimum of eight) and just how big a deficit constitutes 'a mountain to climb' (certainly not Liverpool going 1-0 down at home to Wolves in the third minute, Sky Sports). Along the way, Hurrey examines some case studies of how the football media has reached saturation point - the transfer rumour mill, the futile art of big-match previewing, the rise of (and backlash against) football jargon - and how its language has evolved to keep the machine going. Have we let the football lexicon spiral out of control? In finding out, this book will be exactly as gloriously pedantic as it sounds.

Winner of the Best Football Book at the British Sports Book Awards and shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of The Year 2009 'Written with warmth and understanding, the book for which African football has been crying out.' FourFourTwo Featuring a new foreword by the author, Feet of the Chameleon has been newly released in digital format to coincide with 29th African Cup of Nations in January 2013. A comprehensive study of African football, Ian Hawkey traces the development of the world’s favourite sport through the tangled history and complex social and political life of this fascinating continent. Drawing on a range of sources, including interviews conducted with individuals involved in all levels of the African game, his own extensive experience and years of research, Ian Hawkey, international football correspondent for the Sunday Times, has crafted a unique and remarkable book to satisfy the surge of interest in African football. Engagingly written and comprehensively researched, drawing on a range of accounts from those at grass-roots level through to the very top tiers of African football, Feet of the Chameleon is a compelling mixture of analysis and insight that delves deep into the history of the game in a continent fragmented by history, language and politics. Ian Hawkey is a meticulous and knowledgeable guide to this complex subject, and he has produced a timely and entertaining study of African football’s colourful history, players, supporters and legends.

The lead college football writer for Sports Illustrated examines the myths that surround college football and obscure the reality of the game.