I was just watching USA-Argentina and the ref and the Argentines speak Spanish, while the Americans speak English, but there was plenty of conversation going on among them. An English Premier league club must have speakers of English, Spanish, Portugese, French, German, etc.
Is there a common language in use when talking with each other? Do the refs need to speak multiple languages?
Good question.
I played rec soccer through high school in North Texas, and learned some very basic soccer Spanish. My team was about half Hispanic, and everyone that consistently played with my team could speak English, but Spanish was stronger for some, and we occasionally had guest players in tournaments who were poor in English. It was also helpful in reading teams who primarily spoke Spanish.
I know my spellings are off, but linia (down the line), and pass ahla NAME (pass to NAME), as well as some forgotten stuff as well as some cursing in Spanish (useful when reffing too) became part of my vocabulary.
I imagine there are one or two languages that enough players/refs know for there to be a conversation of sorts to be understood. Also, in the matter of the game between the United States and Argentina, my guess is that the two main languages – English and Spanish – are spoken by enough of the participants, including the officials, for there to be an understanding. English and Spanish are two common languages, particularly in this part of the world, so I wouldn’t doubt there’d be too much of a problem communicating. (I believe the ref was from El Salvador; obviously he speaks Spanish and it’s a good chance that, considering his job as referee, he speaks enough English too).
There might be a problem for communication when nations from far ends of the world come together, such as China and Suriname for example. But ultimately the only thing anyone needs to understand are the simple rules, as well as things like substitution, which is understood no matter where you are, and any communication beyond that is probably just trying to plead a player’s case in one scenario or another.
My football of choice is rugby, and we just hired an Argentinian coach, who spoke very broken English when we first welcomed him aboard. A lot of the words in rugby don’t really have a Spanish equivalent, and become basically cognates. “Linia” for line (as DS points out), “escrume” for scrum are two examples. Then there are words like “pelote”, or ball, that are used so frequently that you figure it out pretty quick. The small, sport specific vocabulary, combined with gratuitous body language make the language barrier less problematic. Describing new drills is more difficult, but we always figure it out pretty quick.
As an aside, it kind of reminds me of wrestling in high school. One practice technique was to wear blindfolds during practice. It was a very odd feeling, because you could still “see” your opponent, even though you couldn’t use your eyes. A mental image was just “drawn” in your mind, and it was barely a hindrance. That’s what a language barrier in sport reminds me of, a tool is taken away (a common language), but the tool box (communication) is still there.
When I’ve played pick-up games that involve people from different African countries we always used English as medium - mostly because a lot of players people tend to be Premier League team fans so watch those games in English on satellite. But there are some local terms used too, like i’shibobo (to dummy a defender by kicking the ball between his feet) and “Laduma!” (goal) - but “down the line”, “pass”, “man on”, “left” etc are all English.
Ah, so ‘i’shibobo’ means ‘nutmeg’!
Although Spanish is widely-spoken, I expect English is (as usual) the second language for most footballers.
ALthough even language experts like the Dutch or German players must be a bit confused when they hear English commentators talking about ‘early doors’, ‘wall pass’ ‘diamond formation’ and ‘Cryuff turn’.
Ah, so ‘i’shibobo’ means ‘nutmeg’!
Although Spanish is widely-spoken, I expect English is (as usual) the second language for most footballers.
ALthough even language experts like the Dutch or German players must be a bit confused when they hear English commentators talking about ‘early doors’, ‘wall pass’ ‘diamond formation’ and ‘Cryuff turn’.
Gooooooooooooool?
I’m pretty sure the ref didn’t speak English because Landon Donovan called him a fucking cocksucker to his face and he didn’t react.
Or maybe he just agreed? 