by Ali El Mahmoud
It is the world cup fever. Billions worldwide are watching the games, supporting their teams, and participating in heated discussions with family and friends to share their football expertise.
Soccer unites the world, or is it football? Former players David Beckham and Peyton Manning’s humorous debate over the differences between British and American Englishes is one of the interesting linguistic points that was highlighted by Lays in their viral commercial.
Whether it is a pair of cleats or a pair of shoes, chips or crisps, trophies or souvenirs, it is still considered English, right? Of course, there are many varieties of English around the world, but Lays will not focus on Australian, Indian, or Jamaican Englishes for instance, at least not in this ad.
The question that occurred to me while watching the FIFA World Cup games is how do all these teams communicate during the competition? (FIFA stands for Fédération Internationale de Football Association. In English, it is the International Federation of Association Football).
The situation is two teams who do not likely speak the same language have to face each other and communicate. Sometimes, the players do not share the same language within the same team.
The video below is an intense conversation between a coach and his players. The coach is a native speaker of French, but he speaks English with the players and uses the services of an interpreter.
What I find interesting is why he speaks English but not French. He has access to interpretation services, so why not speak French? Perhaps, some of the players can understand English?
However, all soccer players must, at a certain point, speak with each other and with the game referees. How do they succeed?
Well, they do not, but they try anyway. For instance, any comments said with attitude to the face of the referee in a language he (yes, he, because in most of the cases the referee is a man. Unfortunately, female presence is scarce in the world cup) does not understand, it will cost the player (offender in the referee’s eyes) a red card, which means, he is forced to leave the pitch.
We should know that in most situations, the rules of the game and the referee’s decisions are clearly understood without verbal communication. For example, the use of flags, cards, whistle blows, and hand gestures are enough to deliver the message. Players would know whether the ball is a throw-in, a corner kick, or even a penalty. They do not have to talk to perceive the referee’s decisions, but what if they want to protest and argue?
According to the FIFA website (2022), there are four accepted official languages during the tournaments: French, Spanish, English, and German. In 2022, FIFA added Arabic, Portuguese, and Russian. So, ideally, the referees must be bilingual to accommodate the two teams, but is it always the case?
No, it is not. English is by default the language of soccer (or football if you like).
Baker (2018) noted that in 2014, FIFA investigated a complaint made by the Croatian national team who claimed that the referee in their game against Brazil was speaking Japanese. FIFA denied the claims and defended its decision by saying that all referee workshops are done in English. Therefore, it is impossible that the Japanese official not to speak English with the players. Well, I do not intend to explain to FIFA today that if you understand a language, it does not mean that you can speak it.
In another example, we may wonder what language the referee used in the game between Argentina and Mexico (FIFA World Cup 2022). The referee was Daniele Orsato, an Italian national. He presided over two teams who share the same language, Spanish (The Sun, 2022). Did he speak Spanish? Maybe not. English was the official language of communication even though we may think that it is easier to call up a Spanish-speaking referee for the game, right?
I am not a FIFA expert, but I am trying to raise linguistic questions that I find interesting. For instance, is English undeniably a lingua franca without any competition? If so, why does FIFA have several official languages?
For the teams who come from poor regions of the world, how do you think that they cope with the English-is-a-must reality? Do you think that it is socially just?
References
Baker, A. (2018, June 18). World Cup Mystery Solved: What language do refs and players speak on the field? Yahoo Sports. https://sports.yahoo.com/world-cup-mystery-solved-language-refs-players-speak-field-215143257.html
FIFA. (2022, June 7). Amendments to the FIFA Statutes: new official FIFA languages. https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/1b97a4d37a6cb822/original/Circular-No-1797-Amendments-to-the-FIFA-Statutes-new-official-FIFA-languages_EN.pdf
Terrel, A. (2022, November 26). REF WATCH: Who is Argentina vs Mexico World Cup 2022 referee Daniele Orsato and what controversies has he been involved in? The Sun. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/6457284/who-is-daniele-orsato-argentina-mexico-referee-world-cup/
Hi Ali,
Thank you for this fascinating blog!
The FIFA World Cup is closely linked to sociolinguistics, and this is an amazing point of view.
I may also have observed some language phenomena during the FIFA World Cup, but I did not associate them with sociolinguistics. So thank you once more for this clarification, and it’s really helpful to me.
Di Niu
Hi Ali,
Here’s my insights.
Historically speaking, the lingua franca hasn’t always been English, it used to be French that all the royalty must speak. Let’s also bear in mind that many of the underprivileged countries used to be colonized by countries whose main language are either English, French, or Spanish. Therefore, the underdeveloped countries would at least speak one of those languages, I presume.
So the question is, if English is the lingua franca in an international sports event, is it socially just? Well, I think it’s not a matter of justice anymore, it’s just a matter of fact of which languages are more commonly used, that’s all.
–Rebecca