Football Etiquette

It has recently occurred to me that the football watching public in the United States has grown a great deal in the past few years. I feel comfortable saying football because if you’re reading this blog you should already know which sport I’m talking about. With the influx of new fans in this country I’ve come to realize that sometimes they don’t pronounce teams, names, or even leagues correctly. So, without sounding like too much of a snob, this blog entry will work to correct these newbie errors.

Follow this simple protocol of pronounce, rinse, repeat and you will be a fine football connoisseur in no time (I EVEN MADE FLASHCARDS!):

It is not proper when referring to a team in Manchester, Madrid or London, to simply say the city name to specify a team. There are two teams in Manchester both with the city name in the title. When referring to Manchester United one should say “United”, when referring to Manchester City, they should say “City”. Full names are appropriate, shortened names can be a wobbly road depending on your company.. The same goes for the two top teams in Madrid – Real and Atletico. Now when it comes to London, there are more professional teams there then we have in the entire United States, none of which have London in the title. Arsenal, Chesea, Fulham, Charlton Athletic, West Ham, Crystal Palace, etc. should never be referred to as “London”.

Times when referring to the city is appropriate: When one of the teams in the city is named after the city and the other isn’t: Liverpool and Everton; Milan and Internazzionale; Barcelona and Espanyol; Los Angeles and Chivas, etc…

It is not “The MLS”. Spell it out. That would be “The Major League Soccer”, the same as saying “The Major League Baseball”. I’m no English expert so I cannot point to the rule regarding why this is incorrect, but its not rocket science, please quit calling it “The MLS”.

Tottenham Hotspur can be referred to as Tottenham or Spurs, but never as the Hotspurs. For those who don’t know, the team takes its name from a character in a Shakespeare play, named Harry Hotspur. Repeat, not the Hotspurs… In the same theme, Blackburn Rovers are not called The Rovers. If not using Blackburn, just say “Rovers”.

One cannot support more than one club in the same league. One can definitely not support two of the big teams in a certain league. This is football treason, while there is no capital punishment for this crime, it’s likely that neither team’s fans would want anything to do with you anyway.

Simple Pronunciation:
-Portsmouth is really pronounced Portsmith
-Fulham is really prounced Full-um
-West Bromwich Albion can be referred to as just West Brom, but if using the full name, it’s pronounced West BromICH Albion

That is all. Class dismissed, for now...