# Does "touchdown" mean anything in Association football **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751 "2003-07-15T22:51:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/1 "2003-07-15T22:51:00Z")
I just wondered, because on looking up the word _touchdown_ in my English-German dictionary, I learned that it translates to _Handauf_, literally “hand-on”. Which in soccer sounds like a violation. Any Dopers from the soccer (or if you prefer it, real football) playing countries care to fill me in? ---
**Author:** ![xicanorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a88e57/32.png) [@xicanorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xicanorex)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/2 "2003-07-16T00:09:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spectre of Pithecanthropus \* > \*\*Which in soccer sounds like a violation.Any Dopers from the soccer (or if you prefer it, real football) playing countries care to fill me in? \*\* I have not heard “touch down” used in soccer. I have heard “score!” or “goal!” when the ball “kisses” the net. xicanorex ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/3 "2003-07-16T00:11:53Z")
If you consider it literally, “touchdown” is meaningless in American Football because the points are scored when the offensive team retains/gains possession of the ball within their opponents’ End Zone. For comparison, however, you need to choose the sport of **rugby** not soccer, because American Football is derived from rugby. In rugby (either code) the points are only awarded to the attacking team if one of their players retains possession of the ball _and makes it contact with the ground_ beyond the Try Line. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/4 "2003-07-16T01:04:09Z")
I don’t like the translation of ‘touchdown’ to ‘hand on’. As a native English speaker, a ‘touchdown’ means something touches the ground, be it a spaceship or a rugby ball. ‘Hand on’ to me means to pass something on, either charitably or in a will. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > If you consider it literally, “touchdown” is meaningless in American Football because the points are scored when the offensive team retains/gains possession of the ball within their opponents’ End Zone. If running in, an offensive player ‘crosses the plane’ of the end zone, rather than touching down. I guess there’s no snappy phrase for this. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > For comparison, however, you need to choose the sport of **rugby** not soccer, because American Football is derived from rugby. In rugby (either code) the points are only awarded to the attacking team if one of their players retains possession of the ball _and makes it contact with the ground_ beyond the Try Line. I can’t improve on everton’s knowledge of soccer from many threads (well done, that man!), but I can make couple of minor quibbles about rugby: The player scores a try by applying **downward pressure** to the ball, **on** or beyond the try line. You can also **gain** possession over the try line (after a kick ahead). ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/5 "2003-07-16T07:04:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by glee \* > \*\*…The player scores a try by applying **downward pressure** to the ball, **on** or beyond the try line. > You can also **gain** possession over the try line (after a kick ahead). \*\* However, although this is undoubtedly accurate, it still _counts_ as downwards pressure " **on** or beyond the try line" if you touchdown ahead of the try-line, but your momentum carries you over - must be one motion - a secondary movement will disqualify the action and no score will be awarded. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/6 "2003-07-16T10:55:30Z")
To return to the OP, ‘touchdown’ does not have any meaning in the world of football (soccer). ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/7 "2003-07-16T11:25:12Z")
Yes, touchdown, hand-on doesn’t mean anything in football. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/8 "2003-07-16T14:02:54Z")
I don’t know German very well, but I wonder if “handauf” would translate better as “touch” than as “touchdown.” When the ball rolls across the sideline and out of play (or “out of bounds” in American football), you can say it went “into touch.” That would be the only area on the pitch where any player (other than the goalkeeper in his box) can literally “touch” the ball with his hand to do a throw-in. It sounds to me like the dictionary mistranslated “touchdown” as “touch.” ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/9 "2003-07-16T16:24:11Z")
A quick search of sporting websites finds “handauf” is the German for the tactic in rubgy football of putting down the ball behind your own team’s Try Line to stop an opponent doing so. I forget what, if anything, this is called in English. According to my dictionary (Lexica translating thesaurus), “touchdown” translates to “Landung” in the aeronautical sense or “Tor” (= goal) in the American sporting sense. As to the OP, maybe this is getting confused with the soccer terms “handball” (illegally touching the ball) and “kicking into touch” (kicking the ball out of play for tactical advantage). ---
**Author:** ![venterap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@venterap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/venterap)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/10 "2003-07-16T21:07:16Z")
In rugby, the term “handauf”= “hand-on” would make sense in two areas: downing the ball behind the opponent’s goal line (scoring a try), or if you made a touchdown in your own goal area, as this would take the ball out of play, and play must be restarted by scrum or drop-in. The decription of the action in both cases is the same: your hand must be on the ball at the moment the ball touches the ground, thus hand-on. Be aware though that “auf” in German also sometimes means “off”! So the word might also sometimes paradoxically mean “hands-off”! ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/11 "2003-07-16T21:52:44Z")
The ball kisses the net? Never heard that one before! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/12 "2003-07-16T22:49:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tarantula \* > However, although this is undoubtedly accurate, it still _counts_ as downwards pressure " **on** or beyond the try line" if you touchdown ahead of the try-line, but your momentum carries you over - must be one motion - a secondary movement will disqualify the action and no score will be awarded. > > That is all. Quite right! (Are you a player?) > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by raygirvan \* > …the tactic in rubgy football of putting down the ball behind your own team’s Try Line to stop an opponent doing so. I forget what, if anything, this is called in English. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by venterap_ > or if you made a touchdown in your own goal area, as this would take the ball out of play, and play must be restarted by scrum or drop-in… You ‘touch down’. Note that it is vital who made the ball cross the line beforehand. If the other team, you have a 20 metre **dropout** (reasonably safe). If your team did it, it’s a 5 metre scrum to the opposition (very dangerous for you). ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-touchdown-mean-anything-in-association-football/188751/13 "2003-07-16T23:16:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by raygirvan \* > \*\*A quick search of sporting websites finds “handauf” is the German for the tactic in rubgy football of putting down the ball behind your own team’s Try Line to stop an opponent doing so. I forget what, if anything, this is called in English. > > According to my dictionary (Lexica translating thesaurus), “touchdown” translates to “Landung” in the aeronautical sense or “Tor” (= goal) in the American sporting sense. As to the OP, maybe this is getting confused with the soccer terms “handball” (illegally touching the ball) and “kicking into touch” (kicking the ball out of play for tactical advantage). \*\* You’ve must have found a better translater than I found… Handauf= [Lay down the building in the own Rugby Malfeld, in order to forestall thereby the opponent](http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.seniorentreff-msp.de/Sport-Fachausdruecke.htm&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522handauf%2522%2Bfussball%26num%3D100%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DG) … Was wondering whether it was German for ‘handball’… “handauf… elfmeter… gol… ein ze nul…” Seems not.