Bicycle kick

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A bicycle kick, scissors kick, or overhead kick is a move in football (soccer), which is made by throwing the body up into the air, making a shearing movement with the legs to get one leg high overhead to reach the ball (in original head height), which gets kicked backward over the player's head. It is the most popular football skill.^{[citation needed]}

1 Overview
- 1.1 Attributions of invention
2 Different Denominations
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Overview

Different phases of the execution of a bicycle kick

The common English name comes from the two legs that look as if pedaling a bicycle with one leg going forward to the ball and the other backward to create an opposite moment. The overhead kick is commonly known as Chilena in most of Latin America and Spain as well as Chalaca in Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. The German name Fallrückzieher (falling backward kick) emphasises the sacrifice of the player falling on his back, with a variant named Seitfallzieher (sideways falling kick) for a similar move to reach a volley ball sideways. In Norwegian, the move is known as Brassespark.

There are two major situations (apart from showing off) where the bicycle kick would be useful in a game situation:

When a defender is desperate to remove the ball from near his side's goal, but he stands facing the goal and with his back to the direction he wants the ball to go, and the ball is bouncing around and thus difficult to control.
If a striker has his back to the opponent's goal and is in the opponent's penalty area or nearby, and the ball is bouncing at head height.

Besides football, the bicycle kick is frequently used (some say it is a must) in the game of Sepak takraw which is hugely popular in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Sepak Takraw could be simply described as a combination of Volleyball and Badminton where players may only use their legs. Bicycle kicks are very occasionally seen in Australian rules football.

Please keep in mind, that performing a bicycle kick can be quite dangerous when performed incorrectly. The main aspect to remember when executing a bicycle kick, is to brace yourself with your arms as you land back on the ground.

[edit] Attributions of invention

There are different attributions of invention in different parts of the world. The kick itself has been part of football gaming for a long time, but it is hard to control the ball to make a directed shot. The actual credit of invention goes usually to players who have used this expert move successfully in an (international) championship to score a goal. Ramón Unzaga Asla, a Spanish-Basque-born midfielder playing for Chile in the 1910s and 1920s; and Leônidas da Silva of Brazil from the 1930s (making a notable 6-5 win over Poland in the 1938 game in Strasbourg) are often cited. Leônidas himself attributed the invention of this move to another Brazilian player, Petronilho de Brito. In Italy, the invention is usually credited to Carlo Parola, even though Silvio Piola made a notable win over Germany with this move in March 1939, before Parola started his professional career. Additionally, former Aston Villa Chairman Doug Ellis claimed in his autobiography that he was the inventor of the kick, though he has no record as an active player and would have been of age even after Leônidas.

[edit] Chilean claim

According to the Ramón Unzaga Asla account, the native of Bilbao/Spain, who in his teens emigrated to Chile with his parents, created the kick during an 1914 match of his football club Estrella del Mar in Talcahuano. Unzaga, though not scoring, received wider recognition after playing for Chile in the South American Championship of 1916 (hosted by Argentina) and 1920 (hosted by his adoptive country Chile). According to this account, the bicycle kick was noticed and named "la chilena" by a group of Argentinean journalists during the 1920 tournament.:^[1]

In 1927, Chilean club team Colo-Colo conducted a European tour and Chilean player David Arellano exhibited the move in Spain, and the name "Chilena" may refer to him.^[2]

International sports media in Spanish such as ESPN Deportes regard the move as a Chilena, in reference to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa logo.^[3]

[edit] German claim

In Germany, the national team player Klaus Fischer is seen as the master of the overhead kick for his spectacular goal in the 1976-77 season that is officially called the "goal of the century" in Germany, but Uwe Seeler is known to have used the kick to score a goal multiple times. Similarly, in Mexico, the bicycle kick is known as Hugo Sánchez's signature move.

[edit] Peruvian claim

Callao is the principal port of Perú. During the colonial era it was the principal point of commerce in the Pacific zone and, thus, the meeting point that sailors of the Pacific Ocean used. Callao served as a point of union of cultures and tastes of the English, Scottish, Irish, Galish, and other sailors.

Ancient testimonies and oral traditions tells that during a football match between the sailors, on the late XIX century, they invited some of the Chalacos (People from Callao) to come play with them to fill the players needed for the 22 to be completed. It is said that during this game, one of the Chalaco's move was so surprising and spectacular in the manner that it scored that from the lips of the visitors came out the word that baptized the play in this area of the world: "Tiro de Chalaca" ("Chalacan Strike"). Later this was shortened to "Chalaca."^[4]

What makes the Peruvian claim valid is not the oral testimony itself, but rather the accurate details it contains. The port of Callao was, back in those times when the Panama Canal had not been built, a much needed port to use to make it across America by ship.^[5] So then it can reasonably be concluded that the British, "creators" of the sport, would have played football as a means to have fun in their long trips and that they should have invited some of the natives to play with them. Also, according to Jorge Barraza (Argentine's journalist and CONMEBOL's Magazine Chief Editor), there were several games played between Chileans and Peruvians due to the trips from Valparaiso to Callao. The Chileans have also called the move "Chalaca" and as Jorge Barraza says: "The Peruvians are the only ones who never called it 'Chilena' because they had already seen it and given a name to it."^[6]

Afterwards, the people from Peru and other parts of Latin America (Particularly Ecuador and Colombia) called this move "Chalaca."

[edit] Different Denominations

Cantonese
- Hong Kong: "倒掛" or "倒掛金鈎"
Turkish
- Turkey: "Rövaşata".
Swedish
- Sweden: "Cykelspark" or "Bicycletas".
Spanish
- Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela: "Chilena" ("Chilean").
- Colombia, Ecuador and Perú: "Chalaca".
- México: "Chilena" or "Huguiña" (In reference to Hugo Sanchez)
- Spain: "Tijera" or "Chilena".
Russian: "Ножницы" or "Удар через себя".
Slovak
- Slovakia: "nožničky" (scissors).
Romanian
- Romanian: "foarfeca" (scissors).
Portuguese
- Brazil: "Bicicleta".
- Portugal: "Pontapé de bicicleta".
Polish
- Poland: "Przewrotka ".
Persian
- Iran: "Gheychi" (Scissor kick).
Norwegian
- Norway: "Brassespark" (Brazilian Kick).
Languages of Nigeria
- Nigeria: "Shagalo".
Italian
- Italy: "Rovesciata".
Hungarian
- Hungary: "Ollózás" ("Scissors").
Greek
- Greece: "Psalidaki" (small scissors).
German
- Germany: "Fallrückzieher" (pulling the ball [behind one's] back while falling, literally "fall-pullback").
French
- France: "Ciseaux Retourne" or "Retourné Acrobatique".
Finnish
- Finland: "Saksipotku" or "Saksari".
Estonian
- Estonia: "Käärlöök" (scissorkick).
English
- England: "Overhead kick".
- United States: "Bicycle kick", "Bike kick".
Dutch
- Holland: "Omhaal".
Danish
- Denmark: "Saksespark" (Scissor-kick)
Czech
- Czech Republic: "nůžky" (scissors).
Croatian
- Croatia: "Škarice" (a synonym for scissors).
Chinese: "倒钩/倒挂金钩".
Bulgarian
- Bulgaria: "Задна ножица", and "А ла Пиола" ("à la Piola").
Vietnamese
- Vietnam: "xe đạp chổng ngược" (upside down bicycle kick), "ngả bàn đèn" (display an opium-tray).
Indonesian
- Indonesia: "Salto" (from the Latin word for to leap or jump) / "Tendangan salto" (Salto kick)