Learn English Through Football

In this short football language post, we take a look at some language connected with players on the bench, or players who want to play in the first team. Check out our football glossary  and  football cliches pages for loads more explanations of the language of soccer. If you have questions or comments about this, or any other football phrase, you can email us at: admin@languagecaster.com. (DB=Damon)

Learn English Through Football Podcast: The Pecking Order

DB: You’re listening to languagecaster.com. Hi everyone, this is the Learn English Through Football Podcast brought to you by the languagecaster.com team – Damian and myself Damon. Happy New Year, and we hope you are all well and that you have a great 2021 wherever you are.


On today’s show I’ll be talking about some phrases connected with players who are not ‘starters’. These players are not in the first 11, but they are trying hard to get into the starting 11.

On today’s show I’ll be talking about some phrases connected with players who are not ‘starters’ – they are not in the first 11 – who are trying hard to get into the starting 11.


Pecking Order

We’ll start with the phrase ‘pecking order‘, which is a phrase that originally describes chickens, or roosters, the male chicken, and to peck is the verb to describe a bird using its beak to strike or eat something. When male chickens, or roosters, fight, they peck each other. If a chicken is top of the pecking order, it means they are the dominant or strongest bird.

The pecking order is like a ranking and we use it in many situations, and in football we use it to describe which players are in the first 11 or far from the starting team. So, if a player is way down the pecking order, they are not close to being chosen for the first team. If a player is moving up the pecking order, they are doing well in training and the manager may be thinking about choosing them to start a match.


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Here is an example from the Irish Mirror talking about the England team: ‘Rooney reckons the teenager (Mason Greenwood) is more of a natural goalscorer than Rashford and deserves to be second in the pecking order.’ Here Wayne Rooney, ex Manchester United and England striker is saying that Greenwood should be considered as the next choice striker, after Kane.
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OK, next we have two phrases to describe a player who has moved up the pecking order. The phrases are ‘push for a place‘ and ‘knock on the door‘.
Push for a place
The first phrase, push for a place, means a player is trying really hard in training to get a...