Football Phrase of the Week: (to) Overturn

This week's football phrase is the verb 'to overturn'. This phrase is often used when talking about referreing decisions: eg. awarding penalties, red cards, etc. You can read the transcript for this post below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions, then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com

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DB: Welcome to LearnEnglishThroughFootball.com's weekly football language podcast. My name's Damon and I am one half of the LearnEnglishThroughFootball.com. How are you listener? I know that Damian, the other half of the team in London, is feeling pretty happy after he went to see his team Tottenham score a late equaliser to secure a point against Wolverhampton Wanderers. I'm not as happy after a late winner from Crystal Palace meant Liverpool, the team I support, fell to their first defeat of the season. How about the team you support? Did they win, lose, or draw?



On this football phrase of the week podcast, we aren't talking about match results, but we will talk about refereeing decisions and explain how to use the verb 'to overturn'.



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(to) Overturn

DB: OK - to overturn: As you know, in football, the referees and assistant referees make decisions about the game. They decide if there is a penalty, a foul and a free kick, a corner and so on. VAR, the video assistant referee,  is also involved in making decisions, deciding on events in the game. Sometimes, there is a mistake and the decision is overturned. Overturn means to cancel a decision. This was very rare before VAR, but it did happen.



Probably the most common decision to be overturned is when an assistant referee calls a throw in or a corner and the referee overturns the decision. Perhaps the referee believes they had a better view of the ball. It was quite unusual for the referee to overturn their own decision. However, now with VAR it is more common for a referee’s decision to be overturned. And this is what happened in Arsenal's game against Newcastle United this weekend.



The referee awarded a penalty to Arsenal when Nick Pope, Newcastle's goalkeeper brought down Gyökeres only for the video-assisstant referee, VAR, to refer the referee to the onfield screen to watch a replay. VAR suggested the keeper had touched the ball first. The referee agreed and the penalty decision was overturned.



http://gty.im/2237889167



We can use the verb in the passive form - the penalty decision was overturned - or the active form 'the referee overtuned the penalty decision.



Here's an example talking about the Newcastle vs Arsenal match in the BBC: "The latest talking point came after the Gunners were awarded a 14th-minute penalty during their dramatic 2-1 Premier League win, only for the decision to be overturned after an intervention from the video assistant referee (VAR)."



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