In the 19th century, there were several types of "football," some of which allowed players to carry the ball and some of which didn't. In 1863, English advocates of kicking-oriented games formed the Football Association and adopted a set of rules for what became known as "association football," or "soccer" for short. Eight years later, those who preferred the carrying game (popularized at Rugby School) formed the Rugby Football Union. Various football games were played in America, too, but in 1874, students from Montreal's McGill University introduced their hosts from Harvard to the Rugby rules. Harvard found the carrying game superior to the kicking-oriented version of football it was used to. The game spread to other elite American colleges -- Yale, Princeton, Columbia. In the 1880s, the colleges tweaked the rules, adding the scrimmage and the system of downs. This was the only version of football widely played in America at the time, so there was no need to call it anything other than "football." Soccer was reintroduced to America in the early 1900s, when some universities looked for alternatives to violent American football (which was claiming several players' lives every year). By this time, however, the word "football" had already been reserved in America for the gridiron game. So Americans adopted the British slang term "soccer" for the round-ball version of football.
And when various clubs played against each other in the early days they had a meeting beforehand to determine the rules they would play under. Interestingly the original rules of Association Football allowed use of the hands to stop the flight of the ball - you just couldn't pick it up or run with it. The break with the rugby clubs was more around "hacking" than handling - the rugby rules followers believed kicking opponents in the shins was perfectly reasonable.
Soccer, which was abandoned in favor of rugby by American colleges in the mid-1870s, was not "reintroduced to America in the 1900s." It was reintroduced to American colleges in the 1900s. It had been played continuously in the United States throughout the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s, but not by the colleges. It was mostly played by factory workers and British expatriates in places like New York; Chicago; St. Louis; Newark; Pawtucket, R.I.; Fall River, Mass.; Harrison, N.J.; Paterson, N.J., and Kearny, N.J.
Soccer is short for Association Football. This is not an American term. In fact, most English-speaking countries use "soccer" to describe the sport. In rugby-playing countries, namely New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, football actually meant rugby. The Australian NT is called socceroos for a reason. In Ireland, football meant Gaelic football. In the UK, I've been told that football also meant rugby in certain circles, but I cannot vertify it.
The game has always been known as Football in the UK in the 1800s it was known as Association Football and Rugby was known as Rugby Football. To be honest i hate the name soccer.
I'd rather loved to call it as football rather than soccer then. _____________________________ Get the best wedding dresses, evening dresses and wedding invitations.
Why is American Football called "football" anyway? If you look closer you see they play with their hands and use an egg and not a ball. So Handegg would be the appropriate name.
American football is called "football" because all sports that grew from the football games played in England before 1850 are called football (association football, rugby football, American football, Australian rules football and Gaelic football). Yes, American football players do use their hands. So what? Rugby players also use their hands, as do Australian rules players and Gaelic football players. Of course, players in those games also sometimes use their feet, but so do American football players. American football does use a ball. A ball does not have to be round.
Nice post, but I took the liberty to disagree with that last sentence and looked up for some sort of definitions of ball: "A ball is a round object with various uses. It is usually spherical but can be ovoid."
Roger, I'm just gonna share about an expectable reaction, based on my own experience, to people in a bunch of nations where 'soccer', in their languages, equals to 'football' transliterations. American soccer fans are not "guilty" of that but, when I've read first answers to bleu_is_da_color, those fixed a prejudice of mine, since before coming here a little matter of diversity sounded like a sort of linguistic imposition by the most powerful country of the world for me. Well, if we think of other languages, even the 'ball' definition could vary.
Because "football" refers to the game being played "on foot," not to kicking the ball. If you notice, rugby is played with a bigger "egg" than Am football is. There's no quarterback I know of who could complete a forward pass with that ball.
Because you need to do some research on the history of "football." Football has been played in various forms since medeival times. It was actually banned by the Catholic Church at one point because the earlier versions of the sport were basically semi-organised riots between towns. One of the old rules was to get a big ball, or something, into the opposing town's center. People were trampled, property was destoryed, and so on. I believe there still is an ancient form of football played somewhere in Britain and in Italy every year, but I forgot what it's called. The word "football" originally mean't a sport that is played "on foot." Hence the word "foot-ball." In the 1900s, when football, along with English culture, was spreading across the world there were no definate rules that people went by when playing football. Every city, town, and region had their own way of playing. Rugby as we know it today, evolved from the various games of foot-ball. When it spread to the Americas and Australia, for example, people kept the title of football. Over time, certain names stuck. Australian Rules Football, which is a decendent of Rugby if I'm correct, is a good example. Why not call it Australian Rules Rugby? Because the old name stuck down-under. Back in those days information didn't travel as fast as it does in modern times. So traditions and culture formed over the years, and the sport is called what it is called. The US followed a simular course as Australia. That is why we call our football, which decended from Rubgy Football, football. The name just stuck. So historically, our football is as much entitled to be called that as much as any other "football" in the world. Yes soccer sounds more practical being called football. However, the needless arguing over what is the "proper" term for football or whether it's called a field or a pitch etc. is pointless. Phew. I'm tired of writing all that shit evertime I'm on a message board and some genius asks this question. I think I'm going to add this question to my "checklist" from now on.
On bold above, couldn't remember the name as well, so looked for that, if we're thinking of same games it has to be Shrovetide (mob football).
The Laws of the Game for Australian Rules football predate Association Football by 5 years, an explicitly banned passing with the hands, so it's clearly not a rugby derivative. The original Association Football rules also allowed handling of the ball by all players, but not carrying or passing the ball with the hand. The original 1863 laws were... * The maximum length of the ground shall be 200 yards (180 m), the maximum breadth shall be 100 yards (91 m), the length and breadth shall be marked off with flags; and the goal shall be defined by two upright posts, eight yards (7 m) apart, without any tape or bar across them. * A toss for goals shall take place, and the game shall be commenced by a place kick from the centre of the ground by the side losing the toss for goals; the other side shall not approach within 10 yards (9.1 m) of the ball until it is kicked off. * After a goal is won, the losing side shall be entitled to kick off, and the two sides shall change goals after each goal is won. * A goal shall be won when the ball passes between the goal-posts or over the space between the goal-posts (at whatever height), not being thrown, knocked on, or carried. * When the ball is in touch, the first player who touches it shall throw it from the point on the boundary line where it left the ground in a direction at right angles with the boundary line, and the ball shall not be in play until it has touched the ground. * When a player has kicked the ball, any one of the same side who is nearer to the opponent's goal line is out of play, and may not touch the ball himself, nor in any way whatever prevent any other player from doing so, until he is in play; but no player is out of play when the ball is kicked off from behind the goal line. * In case the ball goes behind the goal line, if a player on the side to whom the goal belongs first touches the ball, one of his side shall be entitled to a free kick from the goal line at the point opposite the place where the ball shall be touched. If a player of the opposite side first touches the ball, one of his side shall be entitled to a free kick at the goal only from a point 15 yards (14 m) outside the goal line, opposite the place where the ball is touched, the opposing side standing within their goal line until he has had his kick. * If a player makes a fair catch, he shall be entitled to a free kick, providing he claims it by making a mark with his heel at once; and in order to take such kick he may go back as far as he pleases, and no player on the opposite side shall advance beyond his mark until he has kicked. * No player shall run with the ball. * Neither tripping nor hacking shall be allowed, and no player shall use his hands to hold or push his adversary. * A player shall not be allowed to throw the ball or pass it to another with his hands. * No player shall be allowed to take the ball from the ground with his hands under any pretence whatever while it is in play. * No player shall be allowed to wear projecting nails, iron plates, or gutta-percha[1] on the soles or heels of his boots. In short - no goalkeepers, no offside, limited handling was allowed, goals could be scored at any height... It's a common mistake that people make to assume that the early football was essentially the game today, but with slight some rule differences. The truth is that Association Football was nothing like today's game originally, but instead changed radically when handling was completely banned (goalkeepers excepted), resulting in controlled passing with the feet and heading the ball in the years that followed. Australian Rules football is probably the game that most closely resembles early association football, albeit not that closely.
So it was just one of the many forms of football, correct? Or you're saying Aussie Rules football didn't decend from Rugby-type football?
Correct to both. There were many derivates of football, but on the whole they were much more similar than now. All allowed handling and catching the ball, but some allowed carrying of the ball (including Australian Rules), and some allowed passing the ball with hands (excl Aussie Rules) but even the carrying rules games wouldn't have been a game anything like rugby as we know it, and the variety of codes would have been regarded as pretty much the same game, just as Rugby Union and Rugby League are more or less regarded as being the same sport. Before rules were formally codified you had clubs playing all different rules playing each other, and having to compromise and agree on rules beforehand, which kept all the varieties of games similar. It was only once the different sets of rules were codified, and clubs only played other clubs playing by that specific set of rules, that the games started to branch off in their own direction.
I'm trusting you're not meaning 'flower'. If it's a question (who list): Besides viewers who didn't post.
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 as any 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
WOW!! Brilliant post mate & thanx so much for all the info. Two things: football was termed so because it was played ON foot, & NOT w/the feet, as you & others have mentioned here. But, it was also done to differentiate the game from sim. games played on horseback at the time; the modern game of polo being one of the only survivors of these old-time games. Also, Americans & Canadians actually have two separate versions of gridiron; they are alike in many ways, but there are differences as well.
The designation "football" grows fastly in Australia. Australian football is more and more called "Aussie rules" over there. Of course I fully respect people who call the sport the way they want in their domestic country. However, I disagree with people saying that the use of "soccer" and "football" are both equally legitimate at an international level. This is just not true. Here are just some of the most important international bodies in the sport: International Football Association Board (IFAB) Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL) Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Out of these 8 international bodies, 3 use the official long form "Football Association", and 5 use the short standard form "football". None uses "soccer", not even CONCACAF despite being based in New York City. Of course this only has a trivia value but 3 North American top clubs are also named after "football" : FC Dallas, Toronto FC, Seattler Sounders FC. Sorry to my American friends, but at the international level, soccer has rarely been more than a knickname for the sport. The international standard name for the game is, and has always been, football.