In the context of football, are 'match' and 'game' the same for you?

[yello]

My wife reminded me, on our dog walk, that when talking about football, I don't like 'match' and prefer 'game'. It's me being me, but match just sounds wrong to my ear. Some sports have games, some are matches. I can't tell you what the difference is for me. It just is.

I have a suspicion as to why I make a distinction but I don't want to railroad any thoughts down any particular line.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Lots of people say "I'm going to the match."

 

[Adam4868]

It would always be the match from me when referring to Football....you'll be calling it Soccer next 😁

 

[figbat]

It’s a football match, or a game of football.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

It's a game of two haves between evenly matched teams.

Ok, I'll go then...

 

[yello]

Lots of people say "I'm going to the match."

Yes, that's one of the contexts that sounds jarring to me.

 

[yello]

It would always be the match from me when referring to Football....you'll be calling it Soccer next 😁

That's a different distinction... which we shan't get into

 

[Dogtrousers]

I don't feel at all strongly about this but to me "game" refers to the sport as a whole. "The game of football is played with 11 players per side", whereas "match" refers to a specific contest. "The football match was cancelled".

But it doesn't matter much. "Did you watch the game last night?" vs "Did you watch the match last night.". Both mean the same thing but the former sounds slightly American.

When I lived in the states I'm pretty sure that two baseball teams playing each other would be referred to as a "game" not a "match" but I might have misremembered. "I've got tickets for the Yankees game" (not match). Contrast with the UK "I've got tickets for the United match"

 

[yello]

It’s a football match, or a game of football.

They're different constructs but, agreed, it's not a 'match of football' for me either. Match invariably follows the sport, as game precedes it (match of tennis? match of rugby? match of snooker? all sound weird yet 'game of x' is fine)

 

[SpokeyDokey]

That's a different distinction... which we shan't get into

Nor that new-fangled xG rollocks... 😲

 

[T4tomo]

I think I'm in the match camp,

game sound a bit Bruce Forsyth - good game good game!

 

[yello]

But it doesn't matter much. "Did you watch the game last night?" vs "Did you watch the match last night.". Both mean the same thing but the former sounds slightly American.

Ah, interesting. And kinda what I wanted to explore - how they both sound to ones ear. Now, for me, the former is the more natural.

 

[Dogtrousers]

But Cricket is 100% match, 0% game.

"I saw a cricket match on telly" That's fine.

"I saw a cricket game on telly". That's weird. Maybe you saw some kind of game derived from cricket. Subbuteo Cricket or something like that.

 

[yello]

Golf game v golf match? Definately match there for me... but the more I think about it, the weirder the both sound!

 

[Red17]

If I was playing it's a game. If I was going to spectate more likely to say match