In this short podcast on the language of football, we talk about a football cliche used to describe a player’s actions. The phrase is ‘saw their name in lights’. Check out the transcript of the show below. You also make sure you check out our huge glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. Teachers of English can use the audio and transcript to provide practice for their students, too. Try a gap-fill activity for example. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com. Learn English Through Football: Saw Their Name in Lights DB: Hi there and welcome to languagecaster.com. This is the website and podcast for all those interested in the language of football and in learning English. My name’s Damon and I’m based in a beautiful sunny Tokyo today. Spring is right round the corner! Damian, based in London, will have a spring in his step I imagine after his team Tottenham beat London rivals, Chelsea, 2-0. I am sure he is very happy with that result. Check out his latest podcast, on the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup Final, and the phrase ‘open the scoring‘. And well done to Madrid on more silverware for their trophy! OK, the phrase we will focus on today is a cliche, and it is usually used to describe a situation when a player has a chance to do something great but fails. Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Italian) Saw Their Name in Lights DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com, and that message was in Italian. If you’d like to hear ‘You are listening to languagecaster.com‘ in your language, just record it and send the audio to admin@languagecaster.com. So, the phrase see your name in lights is what we will focus on today, and it means to be famous and successful. The lights refers to the signs on theatres advertising the latest big shows. The title of the show or movie is surrounded by bright lights. Usually, it will have the names of famous actors, too. So if someone says, your name is in lights, it compares you to a famous actor who has his or her name on the front of a famous theatre. In football, it is used very often when a player attempts a spectacular shot. Perhaps they are 25-30 yards from goal, or they try an overhead kick from far out. If they score, it will be a fantastic goal, and they will be the player of the match, the talking point for fans and journalists. 99 times out of a 100 these spectacular attempts fail, and the shot misses the goal completely. In this situation you may hear the commentator say, ‘He saw his name in lights there‘ or ‘She saw her name in lights, didn’t she!‘ The inference is they should have done something more sensible and the missed shot was quite funny. Here is an example from the BBC of how this cliche is used: Liverpool’s Takumi Minamino “saw his name in lights” in front of the Kop when he missed a glorious late chance against Arsenal, according to Everton Women and England forward Izzy Christiansen. The Reds toiled against the resolute 10 men of Arsenal but Minamino had the perfect opportunity to win the game, only to blaze over from seven yards.