Soccer or football?

[CosmoKramer]

I'd like to apologize to all americans I have blasted for using the term soccer instead of football...

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,420024,00.html

 

[nutball]

Hmmm... let's ask the people who run the game (they should know, after all):

http://www.thefa.com/
http://www.uefa.com/
http://www.fifa.com/

versus:

http://www.thesa.com/
http://www.uesa.com/
http://www.fisa.com/

???

 

[CosmoKramer]

Did you read the link? It seems the yanks are using an older term, derived from asocciation football.

 

[Simon F]

http://www.fisa.com/

I think I liked the coverage on this one the most.

 

[Gerry]

Did you read the link? It seems the yanks are using an older term, derived from asocciation football.

This is only supposition.

And irrelevant. Which terminology is the oldest doesn't matter, it's the fact that every footballing organisation on the planet refers to the game as football first and foremost which is important.

So continuing our quest against the use of "soccer" is both valid and indeed necessary.

 

[Gubbi]

So continuing our quest against the use of "soccer" is both valid and indeed necessary.

I agree

Cheers

 

[nutball]

Did you read the link? It seems the yanks are using an older term, derived from asocciation football.

Yeah, it's correct that the original and formal name was Association Football. There are a few clubs in the UK which still have the term in their name, albeit it no longer spelled out (SAFC).

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Soccer is used in NZ(and Australia afaik). If you say footy or football, most ppl would think rugby or rugby league.
I have the usage of soccer ingrained into me as its pointless arguing with rugbyheads, likely to get your head smashed in.

 

[PatrickL]

It is football. You have to be american to call football (american football for others) a game where you mostly play with the ball in your hands.....

 

[KimB]

It is football. You have to be american to call football (american football for others) a game where you mostly play with the ball in your hands.....

Heh, did you even read the link? I thought it was a really fascinating history of the sports.

Looks like American football shares the same heritage as soccer, a name which describes a specific derivation of earlier football forms.

 

[Crisidelm]

In Italy we call it "calcio" (that is "kick", for you Anglophones).

 

[Simon F]

Looks like American football shares the same heritage as soccer

More likely Rugby.

 

[trinibwoy]

Yeah I've always found the word "soccer" to be just more evidence of American ignorance and arrogance. But american "football" is just ridiculous - only one or two guys on the team kick the ball a couple times a game. Should've called it american rugby or something.

But whatever, in a couple hours I'll be Frankfurt bound. World Cup baby!

 

[Geo]

Hey, I think the first drop-kick in thirty years or somesuch happened in American pro football this year. They used to be much more common tho. A good chunk of this is just the historical roots diverging, of course. Tho "American Rules Rugby" would be a much more accurate name at this point.

I wonder where "soccer" as a name comes from tho, and why all those Euro immigrants didn't insure that "football" was preserved as the name. But given when all this naming was going on, I bet you're going to find 1st and 2nd generation Euro fingerprints all over it on this side of the pond as well.

 

[Blazkowicz]

In Italy we call it "calcio" (that is "kick", for you Anglophones).

in french it's.. football (we say most often "foot")

 

[KimB]

More likely Rugby.

....which also shares a common heritage with soccer. Football is apparently a word that was used to describe any ball sport played on foot (as opposed to on a horse). Rugby and soccer are variations on the original rules of football in Britain, according to the original link, and are thus more accurate terms.

American football, on the other hand, shares a heritage with both rugby and soccer (hence why it's a bit more tame than British rugby).

So from Britain we have soccer and rugby, from the US we just have football.

 

[Geo]

....which also shares a common heritage with soccer. Football is apparently a word that was used to describe any ball sport played on foot (as opposed to on a horse). Rugby and soccer are variations on the original rules of football in Britain, according to the original link, and are thus more accurate terms.

American football, on the other hand doesn't appear to share a common link with British rugby, but is just the ruleset for football that eventually became standardized out here.

So from Britain we have soccer and rugby, from the US we just have football.

Hmm, I don't have my 6th grade paper anymore, but I recall finding a direct link from Rugby to American football. Of course there was no google then. I believed whatever Funk & Wagnall told me.

The thing I really remember tho was soccer is believed to have got its start kicking skulls around on the battlefield afterwards.

 

[KimB]

Sorry, erm, I edited my above post after re-reading the original article.

 

[Simon F]

....which also shares a common heritage with soccer.

You completely missed my point, or perhaps I was too subtle. The earlier link stated that the US game originated from the "posh" schools and hence surely has a greater similarity with Rugby (Union).

I would hazard a guess that both Rugby and "Word" Association Football "kick him in the balls Pond Road" had evolved quite a bit from their common ancestor(s) and so it is surely more correct to say that the US game owes more to a Rugby ancestor than a Soccer one.

Australian Rules football, OTOH, as played by the some of the states of Australia (and known as Aerial Ping-Pong by the others) is a bit more like Gaelic football, but that's about the limit of my knowledge.

 

[McDusty]

"Ms. Calendar: "It's just such a rugged contest."
Giles: "Rugged? American football? Heh heh."
Ms. Calendar: "And that's funny because...?"
Giles: "Well, I think it's rather odd that a nation that prides itself on its virility should feel compelled to strap on forty pounds of protective gear just in order to play rugby.""

Buffy fans will recognise that no doubt