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

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

yello

back and brave
Location
France
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

68, & my GP says I will officially be old at 70!
Moderator
Lots of people say "I'm going to the match."
 

Dogtrousers

Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
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"
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
yello

yello

back and brave
Location
France
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)
 
OP
OP
yello

yello

back and brave
Location
France
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

Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
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.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
yello

yello

back and brave
Location
France
Golf game v golf match? Definately match there for me... but the more I think about it, the weirder the both sound! :laugh:
 
Top Bottom