My father, who died recently, played professional football/soccer in the 1960’s and early 70’s; a time when there was very little money in the game, and outside the top-flight many of the players, like my dad, were somewhat semi-professional. So, I grew up in a family which was fairly football obsessed to put it mildly. Even after he left the game he continued to socialize with those still involved e.g., the  Glasgow Rangers and Leicester City  manager, Jock Wallace, was a golf-partner and drinking buddy of his. Although I never had any real footballing talent or skills, I still love and follow the game, and part of my appreciation for it comes from an understanding I gained by being in the room when professional players and team managers discussed some of the finer points concerning the sport. I’m not saying I’m qualified to be a pundit etc., but I count myself fortunate to have been able to listen to people who’d been involved in the sport at a high level, and in a moment, I’ll get round to the relevance for this concerning fighting and the martial arts. As a child and teenager, I practiced Judo and Karate, and I was always looking for a piece of advice, a tactic and/or a strategy, that would give me an edge/advantage, and I didn’t care where it came from. I’m a big believer that often the thing which changes your thinking/viewpoint comes from an “unconnected” source e.g., I often find that my “educational breakthroughs” in criminology come from unrelated disciplines; a reason I’m a believer in broad rather than narrow study. So, I used to think about how I could use some of the ideas from football to enhance my martial arts practice/study, and I’m going to try to explain some of them in this article.

               One of the things I learnt was that a good footballer always knew where the goal was i.e., they didn’t have to visually see it to know where it was. If you were playing defense with your back to the goal, you should instinctively/inherently know where it was regardless of where you were on the pitch e.g., your position to it and your distance from it. This is one of the advantages you get when playing at home; not all soccer/football pitches are the same dimensions and there can be a fair degree of variability e.g., Manchester City’s pitch is fairly wide whilst Fulham’s is much narrower, and managers adapt their team’s style of play based on such factors. The point I took away from this was that you should always know where your target(s) is, without having to look e.g., if you are throwing a low-roundhouse kick into the thigh you shouldn’t have to look down before or whilst throwing the kick, you should simply “know” where it will connect. Knowing where your target is without having to look gives you several advantages. One is that if you were to look at the target you would indicate/signal to the person you are fighting what your intention is. If someone can “read” your intention, then they have a much better chance of responding to it. As an aging martial artist my reflexes have slowed down but what has improved, with experience, is my ability to read intent e.g., the movements and actions that precede an attack (something I wish I’d actively studied when I was younger). Looking or even glancing at a target signals intent. Secondly, when you look or even glance at a target, you’re not able to see any incoming attack, increasing your vulnerability. By inherently “knowing” where the targets are you speed up your ability to both attack and defend.

               One of the other “obvious” things I learnt from football, was that a defender (someone playing in defense preventing goals) would get you a draw, whilst a striker (someone playing in attack and scoring goals), would get you a win. Whilst you need both types of players on your team, this is one of the reasons that a striker generally costs more to buy than a defender. This idea is very prevalent in Krav Maga, though sometimes gets forgotten. Many people will somewhat “congratulate” themselves in sparring when they make a successful block, however making a block doesn’t move them forward i.e., it gets them a “draw” rather than a “win”. The main component of a block should be a movement that can either be used to deliver a strike or set one up. Often, people get so caught up with the goal of blocking/stopping an attack that they miss out on the movement that can set up their own attack. Whilst you must be able to defend, the most important part of a block is being able to attack. I try to avoid the term “win” when talking about violence as oftentimes you are limiting what the other person is able to do to you; but in the football analogy being able to attack is what gives you the “win” i.e., being able to attack is somewhat more important than being able to defend, as it’s by attacking that you are more likely to end the fight/confrontation.

               With the FIFA World Cup just a few weeks away I’ll be watching/looking for other lessons that I may be able to pick up whilst enjoying that games, and with Scotland back in the competition after 28 years I’ve got more reason to be following the competition than in previous years.