hello in this week's FootyTalk i want
to give you boxing idioms that are used
in football
so growing up in england in my part of
england there were two sports really
football and boxing
i never did boxing i played football but
in this lesson i want to share with you
20 idioms
so advanced vocabulary that is sometimes
used
in football but originally they come
from boxing
number one is to be on the ropes
so in boxing this means when you are
close to defeat
maybe the boxer is against the ropes so
this is the same in football
it's used to say that a team is
struggling or finding it difficult
because the other team is dominating or
is attacking them
number two is to not lay a glove on
someone or to not
land a punch on someone so this is the
match here
and this is used in boxing when somebody
cannot punch somebody cannot
touch somebody
so it's also used in football maybe and
the other team
is much more dominant you can say they
did not lay a glove on them
or maybe in the match you didn't play
well and after the match a manager
says
i'm disappointed with our performance we
didn't lay a glove on them
chris that was a tough night it was hard
to land on a glove a glove on them
really yeah we didn't yeah he got his
spot on i think he must have just heard
my my
chat to him yeah because i did um
yeah very unlike us um look at both
parts of the game us i thought we really
didn't lay a glove on them didn't do
anything that's got us into this
position
number three to come out fighting or
to come out swinging so in boxing this
means to
start very aggressively and it's the
same in football so
maybe at the start of the match a team
can come out
swinging or after half time maybe they
come out
swinging so it means to start something
aggressively
number four to go toe-to-toe with
somebody
so this means to to meet them head-on so
to go
toe-to-toe with somebody means to match
them really so in boxing it means to
stand there and just punching each other
but in football it means something
similar so maybe
two teams are attacking because
sometimes in football one team is
attacking and
the other team is just sitting deep and
defending
but to go toe-to-toe with somebody means
that
two teams are both attacking number five
is to knock someone or some team
out so this is used in cup competitions
and maybe
you knock the team out if you beat them
also in boxing it's the same if you
knock somebody out you mean
you punch them and they they are knocked
out they are on the floor
number six is to slug it out
which is similar to to go toe-to-toe
with someone and this means just to...
two teams attacking each other both
trying to win the match
same well in boxing it means like two
boxers who are standing
there punching each other as hard as
they can not being defensive
so in football it's the same to slug it
out
to go the distance so this is sometimes
used in
football when a season might go to the
very last game
so you might say the season will go the
distance
in boxing it's used if a boxing bout or
a boxing fight
goes the full 10 rounds or the full 12
rounds or the full
allocation of rounds then a boxing fight
goes the distance
number eight so to be on the front foot
or to be on the back foot
so if you are aggressive in boxing you
are on the front foot you are going
forward
it's the same in football a team may be
on the front
foot if they are being aggressive and
attacking
but if you are on the back foot it means
that you are maybe
being defensive or cautious what do you think was key to
getting that result today
i think the first goal to be honest i
don't think we started the best i think
they started on the front foot had two
corners in the first minute number nine
so in football they try to make things
bigger on the tv and they use boxing
language to do this sometimes
so they might call two big teams the
heavyweights
or the heavy hitters so a heavy hitter
in boxing it is a big puncher but in
football it is a big football club
number 10
is sucker punch so this is a punch
that is unexpected so maybe the other
boxer did not expect it
and suddenly they were knocked out so
this can happen in football if
a team who is not playing well maybe
score a goal so it is unexpected
it was a sucker punch number 11 is a low
blow
or to hit below the belt so in boxing it
is illegal to hit
below the belt and but this is used
figuratively
in english if you if you say that
something was
really offensive and it was not
necessary
and you said something that really
offended somebody maybe it was a low
blow
or it was below it was below the belt
it's not really a football term but it's
used
it's used when you are maybe arguing or
discussing something with somebody
okay number 12 is to throw your hat into
the ring
okay so this means to maybe enter
a contest and this was used in boxing
historically to challenge somebody
somebody would throw their hat
into the ring to challenge somebody but
now you can use this maybe in football
if maybe a manager or a coach wants to
wants to take over another club or wants
to join a club maybe you can say that
he has thrown his hat into the ring
maybe number 13 is to throw in the towel
so in boxing to if your corner
so like your support staff if your
corner throws in the
towel you surrender you you give up
the contest
and if a team maybe throws in the towel
it means they
they have given it up so yes maybe a
coach says
oh we cannot catch the the team who is
winning the premier league so maybe he
has
thrown in the towel number 14 is to take
it
on the chin so this is a phrase that can
be used in football
maybe if if people are being offensive
towards you a footballer can
say i just have to take it on the chin
means i just have to take it
there's nothing i can do about it i need
to put up with it i need to tolerate it
15 is to get up off the canvas so this
is a nice idiom and it means to to
recover when you're
when you're down or when you're losing
you need to get up off the canvas
you need to change your attitude and you
need to perform better
it's used in boxing when somebody is
knocked out they are on the canvas they
are on the floor
and they need to get up off the canvas
number 16
is the gloves are off and if the gloves
are off it means it's getting serious
and situation is getting serious so you
can
use this in football maybe if the
match is heating up it's getting
more exciting you can say the gloves are
off number 17
is to square up to somebody or to square
off to somebody
i would say to square up to somebody so
so to square up to somebody is to
meet somebody
face to face and to go in their faces
footballers sometimes do this
nothing really happens really but they
square up to each other
and maybe they push each other's heads a
little bit
number 18 is the old one two so the the
old one two are two punches in rapid
succession usually a left
and a right this is maybe a surprise or
you didn't expect it so you can say
they were hit with the old one too you
could probably say this about
Flamengos victory against River
Plate in the Copa Liibertadores and
also Manchester United versus Bayern
Munich
in 1999 they scored two goals in quick
succession near the end of the match
so the other team was hit with the old
one two
number 19 is a phrase used in boxing to
describe when somebody is not
getting back up they are knocked out
they are
out for the count so this means if you
are totally defeated
maybe you are out for the count number
20 does not come from boxing actually it
comes from wrestling but it's a bit
similar so
this phrase is no holds barred so in
wrestling sometimes
some types of holds are not allowed they
are barred
but if there is no holds barred it means
there is no restrictions
so you can say when something has no
restrictions
it is no holds barred okay that was 20
idioms that
are from boxing they are sometimes used
in football not always but
you can use them in english see you in
the next video
