•
Safety – see
Survive. •
Save – when a
goalkeeper prevents the football from crossing the
goal line between the goalposts. •
Scratch – a term used in the nineteenth century to indicate a team had withdrawn from a competition and granting their opponents a walkover. Also used in
horse racing. •
Screamer – a term used to describe a fiercely-hit shot on goal from long range. •
Scrimmage – a term used in the nineteenth century for what would now be called a
goalmouth scramble. In the early days of newspaper coverage of the sport, reporters were often unable to identify the scorer of a goal under such circumstances and would report simply that the goal had been scored "from a scrimmage". For this reason, the scorers of several goals in early
FA Cup finals are unknown. •
Seal dribble – type of
dribble, in which a player flicks the ball up from the ground onto their head and then proceeds to run past opponents whilst bouncing the ball on top of their forehead, somewhat imitating a performing seal. •
Season – the time period during which primary competitions in a certain country are played. In most European countries the season starts around September and ends in May, with a
winter break in December and January. In other countries the season is played within a single
calendar year. It is often customary to use the Super Cup to mark the beginning of a season while the
Cup final usually marks its end. •
Second season syndrome – phrase sometimes used by commentators in English football to refer to a downturn in fortunes for a football club two seasons after its promotion to the
Premier League. •
Sending off – see
red card. •
Separation – space that is found or created by an attacking player in the offensive run of play, either with or without possession of the ball. •
Set piece –
dead ball routine that the attacking team has specifically practised, such as a
free kick taken close to the
D. •
Shin pads or
Shin guards – mandatory piece of equipment, usually made of plastic or rubber, worn underneath the socks in order to protect the shins. •
Shoot – specialised kicking technique mainly used by forwards. The purpose of shooting is to get the ball past the goal line (usually beating the goalkeeper in the process), though some shots may be made in order to win corners or force the keeper to deflect the ball into the path of a teammate – this will only be the case if scoring directly from the shot seems unlikely. See
Shooting (association football). To attempt to shoot is to
take a shot. •
Silver goal – rule which was briefly in use between 2002 and 2004 in some
UEFA competitions when elimination matches were level after 90 minutes. In extra time, the match would end if one team was winning after fifteen minutes of extra time. Unlike the
golden goal, the game did not finish the moment a goal was scored. •
Six-a-side football – variant of association football adapted for play in an arena such as a turf-covered hockey arena or a skating rink. Unlike in
futsal the playing field is surrounded by a wall instead of touch lines. The ball can be played directly off the wall, which eliminates many frequent stoppages that would normally result in throw-ins,
goal kicks and
corner kicks. Played by two teams with 6 players each. Also known as
arena soccer,
indoor football,
indoor soccer or simply as
six-a-side. •
Six-pointer – game between teams both competing for a title, promotion or relegation, whereby the relative difference between winning and losing can be six points. •
Slide tackle – type of tackle where the defending player slides along the ground to tackle their opponent. Now it is used most commonly in countries where the term "football" is used to refer to a different code, for instance
American football in the United States, and
Australian rules football and
rugby league in Australia, as well as in Ireland at such times when confusion with
Gaelic football may occur. See also:
Names for association football. •
Soft – term that indicates the referee made a potentially wrong decision regarding a foul. and initially assigned to distinguish positions in a
formation, they gradually became associated with individual players, irrespective of where they are positioned on the pitch. This gave rise to the custom of
retiring numbers. •
Square ball – when a ball is passed between teammates laterally, across the field of play. •
Squeaky-bum time – tense final stages of a league competition, especially from the point of view of the title contenders, and clubs facing promotion and relegation. Coined by
Manchester United manager
Alex Ferguson. •
Step over or
stepover – skill move performed by an attacking player in which the player with the ball will move their foot over the ball without making contact with it. •
Stoppage-time – an additional number of minutes at the end of each half, determined by the match officials, to compensate for time lost during the game. Informally known by various names, including
injury time and
added time. •
Straight red – a penalty given by the referee in punishment for a serious offence that is deemed to be worse than a booking and results in immediate sending off of a player •
Street football – informal variations of the sport. Games often forgo many requirements of a formal game of football, such as a large field, field markings, goal apparatus and corner flags, eleven players per team, or match officials (referee and assistant referees). Synonymous with
jumpers for goalposts. •
Striker – one of the four main positions in football. Strikers are the players closest to the opposition goal, with the principal role of scoring goals. Also known as
forward or
attacker. A tackle in which a player directs their studs towards an opponent is referred to as a
studs-up challenge, and is a foul punishable by a red card. •
Stunner – see
screamer. •
Substitute – a player who is brought on to the pitch during a match in exchange for an existing player. •
Super Hat-trick – when a player scores four goals in a single match. •
Supporter – see
fan. •
Sunday league football – term used mainly in the British Isles in respect of amateur leagues played on Sunday rather than the more usual Saturday, often generalised as being of very low quality and including unfit or hungover players in teams representing
public houses ("pub leagues"); organisational standards and skill levels actually vary greatly. Also used in a derogatory sense to deride professional teams' poor performances, or entire leagues seen as weak (often by English observers of
Scottish football). See also:
farmers league. •
Survive – when a team at risk of
relegation secures enough points to guarantee their position in that league for the following season. Also known as
securing safety. •
Suspension – a punishment under which players are not permitted to play in one or more of their team's games if they are sent off or reach a specified total number of bookings in previous games •
Sweeper – defender whose role is to protect the space between the goalkeeper and the rest of the defence. Also referred to as
libero. ==T==