The Meaning of Nutmegs
I can agree and disagree with that sentiment in that it is only embarrassing to the player being nutmegged rather than for the player who has performed the nutmeg. So, what is a 'nutmeg'? It's when one player passes the ball through the wide open legs of another player and retrieves the ball the other side of him or her. To finally put the matter straight for those Wands supporters who have been wondering about it all this time, the answer is simple. I wanted a title that was short, direct, had a meaningful attribute to football and was instantly noticeable. It worked.
Before I decided upon 'Nutmegs', I toyed with the idea of naming the articles 'crossed with aplomb', 'unceremoniously' and even 'the 87th minute winner' but they never seemed to fit the situation properly. Yes, there were more football-derived sayings I could have used instead. One of my also-ran favourites was 'has anyone got two bob for the meter to turn the floodlights back on?' (which was heard once during a training session at Grassmeade when the lights went out) but, as I only had one page on which to write each article, I felt that a title like that would have used up most of the white space and would have left only the margin for me to write in.
And then that got me wondering, as I often do. Are there other phrases for performed tricks or moves on the football pitch? So I went hunting and this is a short list of what I came up with...
• Hoof. To hoof the ball is to kick it anywhere away from danger, down field, at the floodlights, over the main stand, into orbit and so on with very little accuracy. Generally performed by under-pressure defenders.
• Screamer, also known as a 'worldie'. This is when somebody pulls something special out of their hat and scores from 'miles out' from the goal, as per Marc Guehi's effort for Crystal Palace against Aston Villa in the Premier League this season.
• Haul. This one was not known to me but it means when one player scores four goals in one match. Also known as a 'quadrick', apparently.
• Matador. A player who scores lots of goals, i.e Harry Kane.
• Panenka. A stupid way to take a penalty kick when it goes embarrassingly wrong.
• Postage Stamp. Top right-hand corner of the goal (from the scorer's perspective) where the goalie can't get his or her fingers to the ball, as in where you would usually put a stamp on an envelope (ask yer grandad if you don't know what stamps and envelopes are).
• Skinned. Generally used to describe one player ghosting past his marker.
• Hospital Ball. An exceptionally bad pass to a heavily marked team mate.
• Sombrero. If you don't know this footballing descriptive word then you'll certainly know the move. It's when a player has his back to an opponent but manages to backheel the ball over both their heads and then he runs past the opponent to retrieve the ball. A bit like a nutmeg in the air. Also known as the 'Rainbow Flick' or 'coup du sombrero', there have apparently been calls to ban this move in football, as it can be viewed by referees as Unsporting Behaviour (which, in my refereeing days, was known as Ungentlemanly Conduct) or Disrespectful Showboating.
There are many different explanations for the origins of all these terms. They all make sense but nobody knows for sure as the phrases were coined 'a long time ago'.
Here is how nutmeg is described in some other countries:
• Brazil. 'caneta' (meaning 'pen') or 'janelinha' (meaning 'little window')
• Spain. 'caño' (meaning 'pipe' or 'spout'), and 'cocina' (meaning 'kitchen')
• France. 'petit pont' (meaning 'little bridge')
• Netherlands and Surinam. 'panna' (generally meaning 'skilful move')
• South Korea. 'alggagi' (meaning 'hatching an egg', although Google tends to throw a fit when I try to back-translate it from Korean to English). If, by chance, I have been given the wrong information on this then I sincerely apologise to all Korean people everywhere.
That last one is very definitely my stand-out favourite, if I can ever confirm that it's true.
Trevor Mulligan