Easy: Mascot

Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is easy so we’re looking at common football words and phrases. Things you use and need to know to play the game.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the word mascot. 

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. 

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is easy so we’re looking at common football words and phrases; things you use and need to know to play the game.

Rich: The word we are looking at in this episode is mascot.

Jack: A mascot is an object that is used to represent a specific group and is thought to bring good luck.

Rich: Mascots are common in sports and most sports teams have official mascots.

Jack: A team mascot is usually connected to a team’s nickname, especially when a team’s nickname is an animal or something that can be given human-like characteristics.

Rich: A team usually has a costume made and someone is employed to wear the costume and cheer on the team from the side of the pitch. 

Jack: Mascots are popular with younger fans. All Premier League teams have a mascot. Pete the Eagle is Crystal Palace’s mascot.

Rich: Palace’s nickname is the Eagles so their mascot is someone dressed up as an Eagle.

Jack: Let’s set our listeners a challenge. We’re going to tell you five Premier League mascots and we want you to tell us the correct club in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Rich: Here we go: Number one: Fred the Red, number two, Filber the Fox, number three Gunnersaurus Rex, number four Wolfie the Wolf and number five Captain Blade.

Jack: Mascots are not only used for individual teams but sporting events like the Olympics and the World Cup have their own mascot.

Rich: World Cup Willie was one of the first-ever mascots for a sporting event for the World Cup in England in 1966.

Jack: And every World Cup since has had a mascot - usually connected to the host country in some way. Spain had a little orange as their mascot and Russia had a wolf as their mascot.

Rich: I wonder if anyone can remember any other World Cup mascots.

Jack: There’s one other way we use the term mascot. At the beginning of a match, you will often see children on the pitch shaking hands with the players.

Rich: These children are also called mascots. Mascots are often chosen because the children are from local schools and have done something special.

Jack: Or some teams run competitions to be child mascots and at other clubs, you may be able to pay to be a child mascot.

Rich: A mascot - someone dressed up in a costume that cheers on the team or a child that walks out with the players at the beginning of a match.

Jack: There is the final whistle!

Rich: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football. 

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Discuss

What's your team's mascot called?

Can you match the five mascots we mentioned in the podcast to their clubs?