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Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2024-25: Spursy
In this football language podcast we will talk about a word which is used in English football only; The word is ‘Spursy’. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
Hello & Welcome
DB: You’re listening to Languagecaster.com’s football language podcast.
Hi there everyone! Welcome to the languagecaster.com’s football language podcast. This is a show for all those who love the beautiful game of football and who want to improve their English. If you are a regular listener, please make sure to give us a like and tell a friend about us.
My name is Damon and I’m based in Japan. The Japan team is gearing up, that is getting ready for, a clash with Australia next week. Japan and Australia have quite a big rivalry, as they are both big teams in the Asian World Cup qualifiers. It should be a great game, and it is one I’ll definitely be watching!
Today’s Show
I wonder if Damian, the other half of our team, watched the England vs Greece match, which ended in a surprise 2-1 defeat for the England team. We’ll hear from Damian in just a moment, as he will talk about our main football language phrase today, ‘Spursy‘. I look forward to that!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Greek)
DB: Thank you for that message, which was in Greek. We would love to get more messages like this, saying ‘You are listening to languagecaster.com’, in different languages. Just record your message, add anything extra and send it to us at admin@languagecaster.com.
DB: OK, here’s Damian, with our our main piece on football language. He’s going to talk about the word ‘Spursy‘, what it means, and how it is used in football.
Spursy
Embed from Getty Images
DF: Right, I am going to talk about a football phrase that is fairly well known in England and one that I have been avoiding for a long time as it is linked to my favourite football team, Tottenham. I didn’t really want to do this; but after losing to Brighton last weekend, despite being 2-0 up at half time, means I really have to mention it! Oh, and Damon made me do this!
As you know, Tottenham are also known as Spurs which is a shortened form of the full name Tottenham Hotspur. The fans sing ‘Come on You Spurs’ at matches and you might see the acronym COYS if you are with Spurs fans (yes, this stands for Come on You Spurs). But other fans have taken this term Spurs and turned it into a form of a joke or an insult: ‘Spursy‘. In English, sometimes we can add the letter ‘y’ to the end of a noun to create an adjective: cloud – cloudy; dirt – dirty and so on. And so by adding a ‘y’ to the name of Spurs a new adjective has been created (or coined) – Spursy.
But what does this mean? Well, Tottenham have a reputation among other football fans as being a bit of a choker which means that they don’t know how to win games; they cannot see out a game. It is almost like they are afraid of winning! They lose a match that they shouldn’t lose, for example against a team that is in a lower league position than them. Or they lose a game in which they have been winning but then they lose or blow the lead.
I suppose it suggests that the mentality of the team is not so strong. I can understand this for this season as they are a very, very young squad, but it has happened so frequently down the years that even Tottenham fans wonder whether the club mentality is wrong. But last season Tottenham had the second best come from behind record in the Premier League. This means that they picked up lots of points despite not scoring first in the game. This suggests that the mentality is not that weak.
Opposition fans, especially those from other clubs in London, love using this phrase whenever Spurs blow a lead and unfortunately this happened again last week at Brighton. Spurs were winning 2-0 at half time and should have been further ahead as they looked dominant. But in the second half, the home side scored three quick goals and Tottenham never recovered and lost 3-2. They lost despite playing really well in the first half.
Never underestimate the true ‘Spursiness’ of this Tottenham team
This is what the Guardian writer Jonathan Wilson said about the team after the Brighton defeat (here he has used the noun form of Spursy – ‘Spursiness‘. He then went on to highlight some statistics which show how often Tottenham have let a two-goal lead slip in the Premier League – 10 times – which is three times more than the next worst team. Opposition players and fans know about this weakness and try to add more pressure on Tottenham by constantly using the phrase, ‘Spursy‘. It feels that only winning some silverware will help the team lose the term, ‘Spursy‘. Hopefully it won’t be too long before this happens…but I won’t hold my breath!
Glossary
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Dulwich Hamlet fan)
DB: Thanks for that message from a Dulwich Hamlet fan. And thanks Damian for explaining the term ‘Spursy’. I hope it is never used to describe Liverpool! In that piece, Damian talked about lots of other football phrases and language, like choke, blow a lead, and come from behind. You can find out lots lots more by coming along to our football-language glossary. There are hundreds of posts explaining the language of football. Let us know some interesting phrases in your language too by sending us a message at admin@languagecaster.com.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Persian)
DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com. Thank you for that message, which was in Persian. Next up, we’ll take a look at our predictions table.
Predictions
DB: Well, I am still top with 32 points, followed by Damian, on 27, and the combined guests on 23.
This week, we have games from the European Nations League – Belgium v France, Croatia v Scotland, and Finland v England; An Asian World Cup qualifier – Japan versus Australia; two World Cup qualifiers in CONMEBOL, which see Brazil take on Peru and Uruguay host Ecuador. Let’s see what Damian thinks.
This weekend
DF: Right, I need to get some points to catch up with Damon. So, I’m going for an easy Croatian victory against Scotland – maybe 2-0 and I’m also going for a 1-1 draw between Belgium and France; both those games in the Nations League. I also think, in the same competition, England will bounce back and defeat Finland 4-0. Now, for the big Asian World Cup qualifier I think Japan’s home advantage will count against Australia – maybe 2-0 for me, while in the South American qualifiers, that’s CONMEBOL of course, I reckon Brazil will thrash Peru 4-0 and Uruguay and Ecuador will play out a 1-1 draw. Yeah, I think those scores are going to get me some points next week.
DB: We’ll see Damian, we’ll see. Our guest this week is Tracey, a Lowestoft Town FC fan. She agrees with Damian on the results of all the European matches. Predicting a win for Croatia over Scotland, but 2-1. She also agrees that Belgium v France will be a draw, but she thinks there will be more goals and has gone for 2-2. Damian went for a 4-0 win for England in Finland, and Tracey also thinks there will four goals, but thinks the result will be a 3-1 win to England.
As for Japan v Australia, Tracey thinks it will be tighter than Damian’s 2-0 win, with Japan winning 1-0. She has a comfortable 2-0 win for Brazil over Peru. The only result she disagrees with Damian on is the Uruguay v Ecuador match. She predicts a 1-0 win for Uruguay. Let us know what you think by posting here or on our forum page.
Contact
DB: We’d love to hear from you if you have any comments about the show or questions about the language of football. You can get in touch via email at admin@languagecaster.com. You could also leave comments or questions on our football-language forum. Come along, take a look and join in the football language conversations. You can also find us on youtube, where you can find lots of our podcasts with transcripts included. We would really appreciate it if you give us a like, recommend us to friends, or send us a message.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Swedish).
Goodbye
DB: Cheers for that message, which was in Swedish. Send us your ‘You are listening to Languagecaster.com’ with your name in your language and we will add it to our show.
Thanks everyone for listening today. Enjoy all the football this week and we’ll be back next week with some more football language. Ta-ra!