Weekly Football Phrase: (to) Whistle Over

In this week’s football phrase we take a look at the verb ‘to whistle’, which we can use to describe a kind of shot. 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.

 

For Teachers ▸ suggestions on how to use this podcast in class

• • Vocabulary focus: ‘to whistle’: ask students to describe different kinds of shots 
  • Listening for gist/main idea: before showing the transcript, play the audio and ask students to note down three ways the focsu word ‘whistle’ can be used in football.
  • Listening for detail: edit a section of the transcript, removing or change key focus words. Students listen and fill in the key word or identify the difference between the script and the audio.
  • Discussion: Ask the students to find similar phrases in their own language and explain them to you and their classmates

Hello

DF: Hi there everyone. My name is Damon and you’re listening to the Learn English Through Football podcast and our weekly football phrase, which focuses on some language from the beautiful game. How are you? I hope you are well. I am back in Japan after a quick trip to the UK last week. It was good to be in the UK and watching football live, rather than highlights in Japan.

There have been three rounds of matches in the Premier League, and my team Liverpool finally got a win under their belt with a 2-0 win away at Ipswich. How about your team? Have they got some wins under their belt?

Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster.com (the Learn English through football podcast) (in Polish)

Today’s Main Phrase

DB: Yes, you are listening to the Learn English through football podcast and that message was in Polish. On this week’s show, we are going to look at a verb that can be used to describe a kind of shot. I heard it used to talk about a shot by Pascal Gross of Brighton in their match against Leeds. The verb is ‘to whistle‘.

(to) Whistle Over

DB: The verb ‘to whistle‘ is used in football with an adverb phrase like ‘over the crossbar‘ or ‘past the post, past the goalkeeper‘. This gives a phrase like ‘the ball whistled over the bar‘. It means a shot that is hit very hard that flies quickly through the air, a little bit like a bullet or a missile.

It is mainly used to describe a shot that is close to a goal but misses by going past the post or over the crossbar. However, if a shot whistles past a goalkeeper and into the net, it describes a goal.

 

In the Brighton v Leeds match, Pascal Gross whistled a shot over the bar. The commentator described it this way, ‘That was whistling‘, meaning the ball, ‘that’, was moving very fast.

 

Other meanings

There are two other common ways to use the word ‘whistle’ in football. One is as a noun, a whistle. That is what the referee blows to indicate a foul, the start of play, when to take a free kick etc.

 

The other is the sound fans make to intimidate opposition teams. The crowd whistles loudly every time the opposition team has the ball. They hope this will disturb the opposition players and make them make mistakes. Fans can also whistle their own players if they are not happy with a performance. You may hear commentators say, ‘you can hear loud whistles as the final whistle blows‘, meaning the referee blows his or her whistle to indicate the end of the match and the crowd whistles to show they are unhappy with their team.

 

 

Similar Expressions

DB Returing to our main phrase ‘to whistle over or past‘, we can also use ‘fly‘ to mean a similar thing. The ball flew over the bar. The shot flew past the post. Perhaps whistle emphasises the speed more, but these phrases have basically the same meaning.

A verb that is similar but slightly different is to sail past or over. This means a shot misses by a long way. It is not close to being a goal. To sail over the bar, means the shot has missed the goal by a big margin. This verb is mostly used with ‘over the bar‘ rather than ‘past the post‘.

 

Contact

DB: Remember, if you have any questions or comments about this week’s football expression or indeed any other football language then drop us an email at contact@learnenglishthroughfootball.com, while you can also find us on Facebook, Bluesky and Instagram. We also have a football-language forum where you can ask and answer any questions you have on the language of football. And, of course, 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 whistle over’ or ‘to whistle past’, which is when a ball is hit very hard and is close to the woodwork. We also talked about to fly past or to sail over. How would you say these expressions in another language that you know?

Stinger: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast (from a Liverpool 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 Liverpool fan. That’s it for this week’s football expression – ‘to whistle’. 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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