inside is an interesting tidbit about the origins of the word
"soccer"... the word comes from the UK and not the US of A..
you see, its not our fault!
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Why Soccer?
I am an Englishman that has taken on himself a personal
crusade to respond to comments regarding the use of the
"American" word for football. I have seen
them over and over again on the worldwide computer news
network, USENET, in its rec.sport.soccer newsgroup where I
have been an active contributor for several years.
To love the game of football is to love it's rich history
also. It particularly disturbs me when modern fans of the
game less conversed in this history do not fully understand
that the word "soccer" is an English, not American word
derived from the second syllable of the word "association".
"Soccer" was originally called "association football" during
the formation of the Football Association in England in the
1860s. This was to maintain a distinction from the other
football game being organised in England at the same
time based on the handling codes, whilst Association Football
conformed to the dribbling codes. The other football came to
be known as "rugby" football, named after the Rugby School in
England, where it is said that a certain young student,
William Webb Ellis, picked up the ball in his hands during an
association football match and ran with it over the goal
line. Master Ellis asked his teacher, who was refereeing,
if that was a goal. The reply was, "No, but it was a jolly
good 'try'", which is where one of the rugby scoring terms
comes from. Rugby Union was formally organised by 1871, but
suffered another split by 1893 when Rugby League was formed.
I digress.
Near the end of 1863, Charles Wreford-Brown, who later
became a notable official of the Football Association, was
asked by some friends at Oxford whether
he cared to join them for a game of "rugger" (rugby). He is
said to have refused, preferring instead to go for a game of
"soccer" - a play on the word "association". The name
caught on. English public schoolboys love to nickname
things, then as much as now. The tendency is to add "er" to
the end of many words. Rugby [Union] Football became
"rugby", and then "rugger". Association Football was better
know as "assoccer" and naturally evolved into "soccer" which
is much easier for a schoolboy to say...
Therefore, the word "soccer" has been used in the mother
country of all football-type games since at least the mid-
19th century. The word "football",
however, was more descriptive of the game (i.e. kicking a
ball with the feet!) and was the term more frequently used.
The British exported the game, so naturally the word
"football" was the name mostly used all over the world. In
recent decades it has been noted that the word "soccer" is
apparently increasing in usage. The word "football" still
appears in formal designations, however, in for
example, Federation Internationale de Football Association
(FIFA). The word "soccer" is more commonly used in several
countries around the world that play other forms of football.
When Australians say "football", they mean Australian
Rules football instead [Well in southern states they do, in
the north they mean [Rugby League]. The Irish have Gaelic
football. In the USA and Canada, of course, there is
Gridiron football. Rugby Union, Rugby League, Australian
Rules, Gaelic, American and Canadian football all owe their
roots to Association football. With the exception of Gaelic
Football, they all use an ovoid shaped ball. None is as
popular around the world as Association football.
"Football" is the world standard name for "soccer". I
always used the word "football" (and still do, wherever I
can). The word "soccer", however, is engrained into the
origins of the modern game of association football as much
asany other aspect of The Game much of the world enjoys
today.
Finally, it must be remembered that British football, both
association and rugby, had been organised in the 19th century
by people in the upper echelons of the English educational
system, from "exotic" schools, colleges and universities as
Harrow, Eton, Oxford and Cambridge, just for starters. As I
stated earler, students of the Victorian era, as much as now,
loved nicknames and "soccer" and "rugger" were the accepted
everyday names for those people. These were sports for
gentlemen. When the games were taken up by those less
fortunate enough to have received the higher (and more
expensive) levels of education the game of soccer
became very popular with the masses. Rugger, less so. As
the rules became increasingly divergent between the two
sports, soccer became the people's sport and rugger remained
more of a "gentleman's" game.
Ever heard the phrase, "Soccer is a gentleman's game played
by ruffians and Rugby is a ruffian's game played by
gentlemen"?
So "soccer" was a fanciful, gentleman's name for the sport.
The mere, common man started to call it "football" for the
obvious reason that it's a game about a ball kicked with the
foot. The game, and the word, was exported by
British workers, students and merchant and naval seamen all
over the world in the latter 19th and early 20th century...
and the name, and the game,blossomed.
I prefer to call it "footy" myself!
Yours in football,
Garry Archer
THank you for that. Soccer is the most boring sport ever
invented and I'm pleased to see its origins were equally as
boring.
As opposed to a sport like american football where
thankfully any action is punctuated by a comparatively
exciting ad every few minutes.
..our game developed on the goldfields as a mixture between
Gaelic football and rugby. The rules were codified in 1858,
and many of the now AFL teams pre-date the origins of the
current premier league sides.
There is even talk that the Aboriginals had their own
version of it (it might explain their amazing skill at it)
but I'm unsure how true that is.