Computer Lab, Monday Afternoon

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

Cally needed to learn about football. Well, that is, Cally had expressed some interest in knowing about football, and Dolf would be doing her a disservice if he didn't help her out in that. So, rather than check the scores on his phone, today he was going to sit right here in the computer lab and search for games to show her.

Preferably recent ones. And ones being played between teams that mattered, so it'd be easier for her to get into it.

Finally, he picked the FC Twente - AZ game from last night. That'd probably be a good one to start her on. Nothing that involved explaining the history of a team like Ajax or Feyenoord, and still good football.

He had no idea what he was getting into.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[onlymistaken]

He wasn't the only one - though Cally knew, at least, that she didn't need to wear a football shirt to meet him at the computer lab.

Which was good, since she didn't own one yet. She did own a face though, and it was that with popped through the open doorway as she said "Hello!" followed by the rest of her.

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"Cally!" Dolf said, sounding pleased as punch. "Come in, sit down!"

You could tell by the exclamation marks, mostly. He liked the face she owned.

[onlymistaken]

Cally set her books down on an empty seat, then slid into the one beside him. "What are you watching? Or I suppose, what are we watching?"

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"FC Twente against AZ," Dolf said, pausing the play on the screen. They were only in the second minute. "Yesterday was Super Sunday back home. Lots of important teams playing against each other. Twente's near top of the list right now."

[onlymistaken]

"So this isn't your favourite team," Cally replied as she studied the screen.

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"No, that's Ajax," Dolf said, shrugging his shoulders. "But FC Twente was champion last year, so I thought they might be interesting."

[onlymistaken]

"It sounds like a good choice for the first time." Cally grinned. "You don't want to start me off watching a team who are going to make a lot of mistakes; then I wouldn't know the right way when I see it!"

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"Exactly!" Dolf said, grinning back. And pecking her on the cheek just because he could. "So the red guys are AZ, and the other guys are FC Twente. The point is to kick the ball into the other team's goal. After 45 minutes, they have a break and change sides."

[onlymistaken]

"Why do they change sides?" Cally asked. "Both ends of the field look the same to me."

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"They just do, to keep things fair," said Dolf. Who actually didn't have a clue, but it was just The Way Things Were Done. "It's just part of the game. Anyway, those are the big rules. You're not allowed to kick or hurt anyone, but sometimes it happens anyway. You have the, uh, the scheidsrechter--" He pointed at the little black-and-white figure on the field, "...who makes sure everyone follows the rules."

[onlymistaken]

Cally turned that word over in her head for a bit, before venturing, "Arbiter?"

Er. Try referee.

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"Arbiter," Dolf went with, gratefully. Sorry, English language. "But that's it. I am rooting for the guys in red here." Alkmaar being slightly closer than Twente and he wasn't really the root-for-the-winner type.

[onlymistaken]

"The underdogs," Cally said with a small grin. "Somehow I'm not surprised."

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"They have been champions before," Dolf defended himself. "So they're not completely the underdogs!"

Though yes, he was completely predictable that way. "Want to watch?"

[onlymistaken]

"No, I only came here so you could explain the rules and point out which colour shirts you're rooting for." Cally rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Of course I want to watch."

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"Okay, okay," Dolf said, holding his hands up, though he was smiling. Then he reached over and tapped the mouse button, and men in shorts started to run across the screen, chasing a ball.

[onlymistaken]

"That does take a lot of dexterity," Cally commented, watching the footwork of the men closest to the ball -- then wincing when one of them slid across the grass. "Is the surface meant to be that slippery?"

No, it's called rain, Cally.

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"Um, no," Dolf said, squinting at the screen. And, okay, maybe wincing a little in sympathy. "I think it rained a lot right before this game," he said. "That sucks. Bad grass can ruin anything."

[onlymistaken]

"Most of them seem to be staying upright, at least." Emphasis on most.

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"They're professional players," Dolf said with a frown. "They should be doing better than that."

And look, one of the guys in red was rushing forwards with the ball, passing it to another guy in red, who passed it to someone at the front, who took a kick...

...and the ball bounced off the top of the goal.

Though you'd be hard-pressed to hear the commentary, what with all the noise Dolf was making. "Kom op kom op kom op-- Godver!"

[onlymistaken]

Cally could follow the basic emotional tones of that outburst, but she still looked to Dolf quizzically for a translation. "I take it that wasn't good?"

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"They almost had a goal!" Dolf said, sounding totally offended. "That should have gone in if only he'd moved a little better!"

[onlymistaken]

"It has to go into the net." It wasn't a question, really, just Cally noting it down aloud for memory's sake.

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"Yes," Dolf grumped. "And not on top of the goal!"

[onlymistaken]

"So noted." Cally bit her lip and schooled her expression into seriousness. There would be no mockery here. Probably. Hopefully. "It rather looks like his teammates are noting that for the player as well." Loudly.

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"He should have aimed better," Dolf said, derisively. He was taking this rather seriously, because it was football, and Football was Serious Business. Respect it.

They started playing again, and it wasn't long before the red team started pushing forward once more, with predictable results for Dolf's noise level.

[onlymistaken]

Cally wasn't exactly descending into hooliganism, but she did lean closer to the screen, trying to keep track for where the ball was. "He's fast."

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"He needs to be," Dolf said, distractedly, "It's footb-- Oh, KOM OP!"

The opposing team managed to kick the ball out from under the man's feet with seconds to spare.

"Playing the man!" Dolf shouted, though the guy really hadn't been.

[onlymistaken]

"What does that mean?" Cally asked. "...Not kom op; I got that."

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"...Um, when you try to kick at the ball, there are two ways to do it," Dolf said. Still distracted, yes, but mostly by pouting at the computer. "You can kick at the ball, or kick at the person with the ball. The latter isn't allowed. That's called playing the man."

[onlymistaken]

"Ahh. Was he doing that?" Which was Cally's most diplomatic way of saying I didn't really notice him doing that.

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"Totally!" said Dolf, who might have been lying with sheer force of wishful thinking. "The arbiter should have seen!"

[onlymistaken]

"Well, that's hardly fair." Cally leaned a bit against Dolf's chair to get a closer look at the screen. "They ought to have more than one arbiter. Perhaps a tribunal of three?"

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"They have side-arbiters!" Dolf proclaimed, pointing. "They watch the edges of the field and stuff. But they're also blind, I can tell."

[onlymistaken]

Cally directed her attention to the side of the field, then gave Dolf a look. "Not literally, I assume, or they'd be exceedingly poor choices for the job."

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

Dolf waved that off like the nonsense it clearly was.

"They're building a new attack," he said instead, pointing. "See? They're heading forward."

Or, y'know, to the left of the screen, where the enemy's gate other team's goal was.

[onlymistaken]

"A bold choice. Driving the ball toward their own goal would be much easier." That was nonsense, if fondly amused nonsense. See the difference, Dolf?

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

Oh god, don't say that. "Don't say that!" See?

The attacker lost the ball, and Dolf groaned. The opposing team started to play it back towards its own defenders.

[onlymistaken]

"Well, for goodness' sake, don't listen to me," Cally told the little figures on the screen. "It's not as if I know how to play."

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"No, they're just bouncing it back to the defenders so they can build up a new attack," Dolf said, dismissively. The two defenders at the back played the ball back and forth, waiting for a good shot.

The guys in red were coming at them again, though there were only two of them.