The East StandChinese Super League: Guangzhou Evergrande show ‘bottle’ while Beijing Guoan fans throw bottles in ‘title decider’
- Fabio Cannavaro’s league leaders triumph 3-1 at Workers’ Stadium to claim 13th win in a row and advantage in title race
- Ugly scenes from home supporters at seeing their club’s challenge for the championship take a massive blow
The term “bottle” is used a lot when it comes to football, but what exactly does it mean?
One dictionary definition clears that up: “the courage or confidence needed to do something difficult or dangerous.”
It actually comes from London’s East End and the world of Cockney rhyming slang. “Bottle” being the front half of “bottle and glass”, the rhyming couplet they substituted for “arse”.
“Bottling it” or “losing one’s bottle” was shorthand for losing control of one’s bowels and while it no longer is that literal, the term is still interchangeable for its more crude synonyms on the terraces, whether that comes to pulling out of tackles or failing in a title race.
It was the bottle of Blackburn Rovers that came to the fore a quarter of a century ago, when goalkeeper Tim Flowers forced the term into football folklore and ensured it is part of the lexicon.
“Don’t talk to me about bottle,” the goalkeeper said as he nodded towards the Ewood Park pitch where his team had just beaten Newcastle United in the penultimate game of the 1994-95 season.