What they don’t tell you while applying to study abroad in England is that Football 101 will be on your class schedule, whether you sign up for it or not. In my 10 months across the pond, I made friends with enthusiasts, student coaches, and sports management students. It was unavoidable, there was no way I was walking out of the country without understanding the game.
I learned the rules of soccer in the most comically Canadian way — by comparing it to hockey. In a conversation at a pub, watching a game with strangers, and chatting with one of my flatmates we went through rules and ways of playing the game, and found the differences. This is what I credit most of my understanding of soccer to, so that’s how we’re going to review the basics today.
First, how long is the game? In hockey we have three periods of 20 minutes, we have a total of 60 minutes of play and a two and a half to three total hours dedicated to the game. In soccer, there is a total of 90 minutes of play, split into two 45 minute halves. In contrast to hockey, where the clock counts down and pauses for penalties, in soccer games, the clock counts up to 90, and even if play pauses, the clock does not pause except during halftime. This leads to the referees often adding time to the clock, with most games in my experience, ending up being around 95-100 minutes.
Soccer always has 11 players on the field, while hockey only allows six on the ice at a time.
Substitutions also work differently. While in hockey players can return to the ice after substitution, in soccer, once you’re off, you’re off. There is no penalty box in soccer, instead there are yellow cards, brought out as a warning to players, two yellow cards gets an expulsion. Red cards on the other hand, mean immediate expulsion from the game, and the team must play one player down for the remainder of that game.
The timing and rules of the game were the most important for me to understand, and were key to being able to watch and enjoy it. Techniques and skills? Still working on understanding that.
When I informed folks at home I was studying in England, I was told to attend one game in person for the experience. That is how I found myself following one of my flatmates into a Manchester United versus Sunderland game in Old Trafford Stadium. It was worth it, tall banners all around, police on horses, near no empty seats, and no alcohol allowed in sight of the field.
During my time in England I’ve been privy to watching games in my flat, at the pub, and listening to many soccer conversations. By the time the FIFA World Cup came around, I knew I would be following along Canada’s team. There is something about being away from home for a long time that makes one seek out those feelings of connection to home, and national sports teams provide that in droves.
So I found myself in London for the Canada versus Qatar match, and decided to meet up with a friend at The Maple Leaf Pub. The Maple Leaf is a Canadian themed pub in London, and during that game, we not only sang the anthem at the start, but also during halftime, and as the game concluded. That pub did not lose energy for any of Canada’s six goals, treating each one like the first. The energy in that comically Canadian pub was infectious, I would be willing to bet that the cheering for Canada was not louder anywhere else in the continent.
After a loss against Morocco in the Round of 16, Canada’s time in the FIFA World Cup has come to an end. The last time Canada even qualified for this tournament was in 1986, and in 2017 Canada was ranked 122nd in men’s soccer; this year we made it into the top 16. This team advanced further, much further, than the Canadian soccer team has gone before. It is a historic time for soccer in Canada, and I for one am excited to see where it goes. If there was any time to learn how soccer works, it might just be now.
