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A Norwich City player gets sent off.

Medium: Send off

Medium: Send off

Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There are lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the phrase to send off

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. 

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There will be lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.


Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is to send off.

Jack: Have a listen to this conversation and see if you can understand the phrase - send off.

Rich: He’s got to score. He’s one on one with the goalkeeper.

Jack: The goalkeeper has fouled him. That’s got to be a penalty and a red card.

Rich: Yeah. He’s got to send the goalkeeper off for that. Here comes the referee … he’s going to send him off … yep it’s a red card for the keeper.


Jack: So the phrase we are looking at is to send off. It’s a phrasal verb and it means to tell someone to leave the pitch because they have broken the rules.

Rich: In football, the referee sends a player off by using a red card.

Jack: The player was given a red card. The player was sent off. They mean the same thing.

Rich: A player is usually sent off because they have made a bad tackle.

Jack: But a player could also be sent off for handball, using bad language, or a player can be sent off if they get two yellow cards in the same match.

Rich: We use the preposition for to give the reason for the sending off.  Listen to these common reasons for getting sent off. Do you understand all three reasons?

Jack: He was sent off for deliberate handball.

Jack: He was sent off for serious foul play.

Jack: He was sent off for denying an opponent an obvious goalscoring opportunity.


Rich: Sent off is a transitive verb which means it needs an object. This object is always the player. Somebody is sent off. The referee sent off the player. The referee sent him off.

Jack: Sent off is also a separable phrasal verb which means that you can put the object in different places like in the examples Rich just said. Listen to these examples:

Rich: The referee sent off the player.

Rich: The referee sent the player off.

Rich: The player was sent off.

Jack: This last example uses the passive and it’s very common in match reports after the match has finished. You might read something like ‘Henderson was sent off in the second half and Liverpool had to play with ten.’

Rich: Or, if you’re speaking more informally it’s more common to use have. You could say something like this: ‘We had a player sent off in the second half which made it really difficult’.


Jack: There is the final whistle!

Rich: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.

Discuss

  • Is it easier or more difficult to play against a team that has had a player sent off?
  • Have you ever been sent off?

Write your answers in the comments section below.

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Comments

PhuCuong
14/05/2024
VN
103
points

It's easier to play with a team that has had a player sent off.


PhuCuong
14/05/2024 05:50
Vietnam
Arsenal
103

It's easier to play with a team that has had a player sent off.

KareemZain
07/08/2023
EG
383
points

I guess it's easier to play against a team with a player sent off as there's an advantage of extra player, I have never been sent off before.


KareemZain
07/08/2023 22:23
Egypt
Manchester City
383

I guess it's easier to play against a team with a player sent off as there's an advantage of extra player, I have never been sent off before.

Michaelsun
17/02/2022
CN
738
points

I think it’s easier to play again a team that has had a player send off.


Michaelsun
17/02/2022 08:31
China
Manchester United
738

I think it’s easier to play again a team that has had a player send off.

wilson2103
25/10/2021
CO
293
points

Pogba just lasted 15 minutes on the pitch after receiving a red card. He was sent off for a bad tackle.


wilson2103
25/10/2021 00:31
Colombia
Manchester United
293

Pogba just lasted 15 minutes on the pitch after receiving a red card. He was sent off for a bad tackle.

Gabriel Amaral's picture
Gabriel Amaral
29/04/2021
BR
1512
points

I think it can be both. Depending on the team you're playing against...the mentality that players have to deffend their goals when they are onde man down, the lime left, etc.
Unfortunately, I have. I couldn't forgive myself.


Gabriel Amaral's picture
Gabriel Amaral
29/04/2021 15:56
Brazil
Arsenal
1512

I think it can be both. Depending on the team you're playing against...the mentality that players have to deffend their goals when they are onde man down, the lime left, etc.
Unfortunately, I have. I couldn't forgive myself.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
03/12/2020
UA
6578
points

Being sent off for having two yellow cards is quite vexing and rather educative for any offender on the pitch.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
03/12/2020 14:07
Ukraine
Liverpool
6578

Being sent off for having two yellow cards is quite vexing and rather educative for any offender on the pitch.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
03/12/2020
UA
6578
points

It's definitely easier to play against 10- or 9-men football teams.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
03/12/2020 14:00
Ukraine
Liverpool
6578

It's definitely easier to play against 10- or 9-men football teams.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
03/12/2020
UA
6578
points

I've never been sent off. Even from a lesson at school. :-)


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
03/12/2020 13:58
Ukraine
Liverpool
6578

I've never been sent off. Even from a lesson at school. :-)

hsn's picture
hsn
22/04/2020
TR
5560
points

Statistics show that the team which has had a player sent off is much more motivated than before. So it's not easy to play against this kind of team.


hsn's picture
hsn
22/04/2020 18:17
Turkey
Tottenham Hotspur
5560

Statistics show that the team which has had a player sent off is much more motivated than before. So it's not easy to play against this kind of team.

Leaderboard

Top Scorers
RankNameScore
1Alex_from_Ukraine6578
2mobeckham6539
3hsn5560
4wsanta5086
5kwesimanifest4779
6Liubomyr4417
7elghoul3988
8assemjuve3705
9aragorn19863557
10Gergő Nagy3396
Country ranking
RankNameScore
1Colombia74679
2Ukraine33892
3Spain29525
4Serbia27426
5Brazil23505
6Albania20578
7Vietnam20460
8Turkey20111
9Macedonia19074
10Bosnia and Herzegovina16333
Club ranking
RankNameScore
1Manchester United146944
2Liverpool111456
3Chelsea90265
4Arsenal86299
5Manchester City58918
6Tottenham Hotspur19506
7Newcastle United10626
8West Ham United7701
9AFC Bournemouth4915
10Crystal Palace4568

Level

3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

Goals

Learn more football vocabulary.