Hi All, I'm involved in a debate, and I'd like to hear from some refs in a FULLY metric country. Sorry U.K and Canada, that excludes you. But if there are any refs here from Australia, NZ, France, Italy etc. After a foul, and when the player taking the FK asks for the required distance, how is it asked? In the U.S., we hear "Can I have 10?" or "Can I get 10 yards?"..or something similar. What is the equivalent question in a fully metric country where the players were brought up knowing only metric. Do they just say "Can I have the distance?" or "Can I have 9.15?" Many thanks in advance.
There is no fully metric country. If you own a camera, the camera mount is 1/4”-20 TPI UNC or 3/8” - 16 TPI UNC Even your Japanese Nikon or your Hasselblad. Spark plug reaches (length of threads) come in two sizes - 1/2” or 3/4” , regardless whether the threads are metric or not. Carpenters in many countries still use some version of the inch, including Spanish guitar makers and Danish carpenters, who use an inch slightly different in length from an imperial inch. Also, you buy bagels and eggs by the dozen, not by tens ( a baker’s dozen translates to Spanish as a Friar’s dozen. No idea why) . And look at your watch. It’s not divided in tens. In that respect, we are still using the 5,000 year old base 60 system of the Babylonians.
yeah...thanks. I was going to include in my post that I did not want to involve the board with any agenda driven metric vs non metric debate. So...let's just pretend, for the sake of my question, that somewhere like France is "fully metric", in that the kids don't know much else...at least..officially from what is taught in schools and by their respective governments.
I grew up in Poland and I can tell you that certain in certain circumstances we used the foot, or pound as a measure. In soccer, I still vividly remember my dad explaining to me that the soccer pitch is measured in feet and yards. So for the sake of soccer lingo, even in my barely on the map town we used the native measurements.
Ha...yes, perhaps my retort was a bit harsh. Apologies to @Cliveworshipper It just seems as soon as the word metric is used in an international forum, it becomes a World vs US metric debate along the lines of great religious and political debates. I wasn't trying to start that. Once again...sorry Cliveworshipper. I was a tad edgy.
Soccer/Futbol is the universal language. It transcends metric/imperial So ten yards is ten yards, because FIFA says it's so. The law doesn't specify distance any other way.
Actually it does, and has done for decades. It was in the first Law book after the first "great rewrite" in the late 90's. And the metric measurements are the primary, even those that were converted directly from yards (e.g goal area, penalty area, center circle, minimum distance).
Yes indeed, e.g., "The centre mark is at the midpoint of the halfway line. A circle with a radius of 9.15 m (10yds) is marked around it."
Sure, though I should clarify my immediate experience is from refereeing and watching Latin leagues here in the United States, with players from Mexico and Central America, for the most part. I'd be interested to hear if players from other Latin American countries speak in terms of meters or yards or both—for example, from Argentina, where the English influence has historically been strong in the national soccer culture.
There isn't any "primary" for measurements. 9.15 meters = 10.01 yards. It's just two different ways of measuring the same distance. The fact that metric is stated first just reflects that most people in the world use the metric system.
Actually I think what Gary meant was that Metric is listed first and Yards is given in brackets afterwards. (As published by IFAB) I am interested in the vernacular from countries, where for at least two generations, they have known nothing but Metric. Is the old time soccer verbiage handed down through soccer generations, or has it been converted. Still curious. But it is interesting that El Rayo said Spanish-speaking players from Latin America ask for "Nueve quince." Which means players ask for "Nine Fifteen" (I believe) I can't really use many other examples. The 18 yard line has become "The Penalty Area" or ahem...excuse me.."The Box" The 6 yard line has become "The Goal Area" The center circle is the center circle and dimensions (in conversation) are usually not referred to. But distance from a free kick is something I thought MAY survive...but maybe not.
Um, no. The proper names for these have always* been PA and GA. 6 and 18 have always been shorthand or fan/commentator speak. ______ *OK, I can't speak to the 1800s. My first training was in the 70s.
It was originally used in match reports to distinguish the parts off the goal line not between the goal posts. I.e. the ball crossing it doesn’t result in a goal.
I was talking to a German friend about soccer and said something about 10 yards. He said, "You mean 9 meters." I started talking about all the other yard dimensions we commonly use. He instantly converted all of them to the nearest integer meter as if that's how he and other Germans often referred to them.
For this I can only speak from personal experience...but when I was a kid playing soccer (70's) and Australia was going metric, my coaches (a couple of generations older) referred to the Goal Area as the 6 yard line, as in "Hey boofhead...put the ball behind the 6 yard line" and the Penalty Area as the 18 yard line as in "Hey numskull. the ball has got to go past the 18 yard line" And since I am interested in (in this thread at least) colloquialisms, vernacular and local verbiage, (which is why I said tongue in cheek "The box") I will forgive myself.
Yep..me too, which brings this discussion full circle (pun intended). What would the equivalent young coach or captain or defender say in France, Germany or Sweden etc. "Hold at the 16.5" ? or did some of the old language survive the change to metric.
In Argentina, the guy who can use his hands is an arquero (actually translates to English as bowman) even though he can’t use his hands in the arc. But announcers will refer to the rectangular bits of the restraining area as el arco when discussing the merits of a pk Call. Geometry is a bit less rigorous, apparently. But then I have heard Argentine announcers refer to Barcelona as Barka, not understanding the significance of the Catalonian Ç Used in Barça. They learned soccer from English railroad companies, who operated in Imperial. There are many terms which survive from English including the names of some teams ( Newell’s Old Boys, River Plate, Boca juniors, Racing, etc.) other English terms remain untranslated save for spelling. Gol, Fútbol córner , offside... others made the switch, ie amonestado for cautioned. Because of the Brits, they also drove on the left until about WWII. The Railroads still operate on the left, which can confuse American drivers at a crossing. Despite earlier Spanish language accounts, I have heard Argentines ( metric since 1863) ask for “diez”, not nueve quince. The ref will then step off ten paces. Metric refs don’t necessarily have longer legs. They also just ask for distancia assuming the ref knows how much, point, or try to nail the encroacher with a restart kick. All responses are acceptable, especially at home. I watched the Spanish language feed of a bears-eagles game last week on an Argentine Chanel. The announcer was telling fans how many “yardas” a field goal kick was. It strikes me he wouldn’t have done that if they were ignorant about yards.