English Dictionary

play the man and not the ball

動詞

広義 口語 慣用表現

(sports) To attack an opponent instead of attacking the ball, which is usually being controlled by the attacked player at the time.

日本語の意味

（スポーツにおいて）相手選手そのものを攻撃し、相手が扱っているボールを直接狙わない戦術を意味する。

The referee warned the defender for repeatedly choosing to play the man and not the ball during corner kicks.

審判は、コーナーキックの際に繰り返しボールではなく相手選手を狙う守備をしたとして、そのディフェンダーに警告を与えた。

意味（1）

(sports) To attack an opponent instead of attacking the ball, which is usually being controlled by the attacked player at the time.

意味（2）

(by extension, idiomatic, colloquial) To object to someone's argument by attacking them or a facet of their personality instead of the argument itself; to make an ad hominem attack.

What we are seeing is an orchestrated campaign from the Labor Party to try to play the man and not the ball," he said... "[And] this is the kind of personal attack that we are going to see from the Labor Party right up until polling day.

plays the man and not the ball （ present singular third-person ）

playing the man and not the ball （ participle present ）

played the man and not the ball （ participle past ）

played the man and not the ball （ past ）