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In this week’s football phrase we take a look at the verb phrase ‘to hang up your boots’, a phrase used when a player retires from football. 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 about the phrase or our podcast then you can contact us here.
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- Pre-Listening:ask students how long a footballer’s career is? When they are at their peak and when they should retire.
- Listening for detail: before showing the script, play the whole show; then, ask students to do a dictogloss (British Council: Dictogloss description) activity, using the first paragraph after the ‘(to) Hang Up Your Boots’ section (or paragraphs, depending on your students’ proficiency level).
- Listening for main points: play the rest of the podcast, and ask students to note down the other phrase connected with Cristiano Ronaldo.
- Discussion: Ask the students who they think the greatest football player is (now and of all time).
Hello
DB: Welcome to the Learn English Through Football weekly football phrase podcast. Hi there everyone. My name is Damon and this is our weekly football phrase podcast. Are you well? Hopefully your team, club or national, has been doing well recently. My club, Liverpool, return to action this weekend as they host Manchester City, who have been in the news over the past two weeks if you haven’t noticed. That should be an interesting game!
Anyway, the last few weeks have mainly been about international football, and today’s weekly football phrase is connected with two players who are retiring from international football, that is, they will stop playing for their national team. The phrase is ‘to hang up your boots‘. Which two players am I talking about? Any ideas?
Stinger: You are listening to the Learn English through football podcast (in German)
Today’s Main Phrase
DB: Yes, you are listening to the Learn English through football podcast and that message was from Aaron in Germany. Thank you! Remember, if you can, send us a message saying ‘You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast’ in your language and will add it to our shows!
Right, today’s phrase – to hang up your boots.
(to) Hang Up Your Boots
DB: This phrase means to retire, to stop playing. It’s a bit of a cliche, used a lot in reports at the end of a player’s career. As you may have guessed, we will focus on Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Now, in our focus phrase, boots refers to the footwear you need to play football – interestingly, they are not called shoes but boots even though they are not large like boots. To hang up means to tidy away or to put on a peg or hook. The full phrase to hang up your boots means to retire from playing football, to finish playing football. When you stop playing, you don’t need your boots anymore.
This week, two legends of the game, Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi stopped playing international football, although in different ways..
Here is MSN.com talking about Lionel Messi: ‘Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest footballer of all time, hung up his boots in international football after playing his final game for Argentina in a 3-0 victory over Benin on Tuesday.‘
(to) Be dropped
I’m sure Portuguese star Ronaldo’s fans think their hero is the greatest footballer of all time, and he also stopped playing for his country this week. While Messi scored in his last appearance for his national team, Ronaldo quit his team after not getting an appearance off the bench in Portugal’s 2-1 Nations League win against Norway.
He didn’t ‘hang up his boots‘, instead, because he was dropped from the starting line up and didn’t appear in the game, he quit.
To be dropped means the coach or manager does not choose you to play for the team – eitehr the starting team or it could be as a team member on the bench: eg. ‘The manager dropped the player from the starting line up’, or ‘the coach dropped the player from the squad’.
To hang up your boots is a positive phrase that suggests it is the right time for a player to stop playing, while to walk out of a training camp, which is what Ronaldo did, is more like quiting.
Contact
DB: Remember, to come along to our site – learnenglishthroughfootball.com – where you can join in on our forum, check out our huge glossary, and find all sorts of other interesting stuff. Drop us an email at contact@learnenglishthroughfootball.com, and you can also find us on Facebook, Bluesky and Instagram. And don’t forget to support us by liking our podcasts and sharing them with your friends. Thanks!
Language Review
DB: So, on today’s short podcast we looked at the verb phrases, ‘to hang up your boots’ and ‘to be dropped’. How would you say these expressions in another language that you know? Let us know by emailing us at contact@learnenglishthroughfootball.com.
Stinger: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast (from a Wrexham fan)
Goodbye
DB: Yes, you are listening to the Learn English through football Podcast, or as we were known before Languagecaster. And that was from a Wrexham fan. That’s it for this week’s football expression. We’ll be back with our weekly podcast at the weekend with another football-language podcast. Enjoy the football this week – ta-ra!
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