Use of the word 'Soccer'

[AndyinLiverpool]

I got into an argument with a British bloke at a bar last night because I was talking about the MLS, and Derby to my girlfriend and said 'soccer' instead of football.  This bloke gave me a hateful stare when he heard it and then went into a ten minute rant about how it is fookin football not soccer.  Needless to say, I cussed him right back... and we both just left.

 

I admittedly use the word soccer here in the States when talking about Derby or football in general as I should as I am around American friends and such.  On here, I use football because of the audience in general as well.

 

Do you think people get carried away when people say soccer instead of football?

 

It is the same feckin sport after all.

Just ignore the fecker.

 

He ought to mind his own business.

 

Call it 'football', call it 'soccer', whatever you want.

[Red_Dawn]

It's football, you clown. As in the game played with the feet

[AmericanRam]

It's football, you clown. As in the game played with the feet

Thanks for your input

[AndyinLiverpool]

It's football, you clown. As in the game played with the feet

All versions of 'football' are played with the feet.

[Red_Dawn]

All versions of 'football' are played with the feet.

Except that one in America where they throw it.

[AndyinLiverpool]

Except that one in America where they throw it.

You might have noticed them running around.

 

On their feet.

[StaffsRam]

It's worth noting that "Football" refers to a ball game on foot, not a ball game played with the foot.

Also worth noting that name Soccer was introduced in Britain as the parallel to the term "Rugger" for Rugby Football.

 

They'd have been better distinguishing it by calling it 'actual football' or 'real football' instead of pretend football (rugby). 

 

Perhaps Handball rules should be changed such that players have to manoeuvre around the court on their hands instead of feet.

[Red_Dawn]

You might have noticed them running around.

On their feet.

Ah fair one I hadn't thought of that.

Guess we should also call rugby and Tennis Football cos they run about. On their feet?

Don't be ridiculous.

[AndyinLiverpool]

I'm sure nobody needs a history lesson, but here goes...

 

The first codified version of football was Rugby football, which had a set of rules set down in the 1840s.

 

An attempt to unify the games played at various public schools was made subsequently in Cambridge but this proved fruitless.

 

'Association Football' was not properly codified until 1863 and the formation of the FA. Until then clubs played each other with a particular set of rules, which could be quite different from the rules used in the previous match.

 

The FA dropped a rule about running with the ball in hand and Blackheath withdrew from the FA to form the Rugby Football Union.

 

Up until the 1870s, all the versions around were called 'football'.

[Red_Dawn]

Don't forget basketball, they run about in their legs aswell

[StaffsRam]

Agree with Dawnie - football is THE global sport. A sport involving the kicking of a ball with a foot. 

 

The fact that other sports stupidly called themselves 'foot'ball first, is irrelevant. 

 

As for games played on foot - add golf, handball, netball, etc etc - surely better to name a sport based on what's actually involved than some random descriptor. Might as well call them all 'oxygenball' as well, seeing as everyone playing said sports will be breathing presumably....

[stoners]

Don't forget basketball, they run about in their legs aswell

Don't forget handball

We can call that football as well

Horse riding as well. What a stupid name for a sport. But obviously no ball involved so should just be called foot

[AndyinLiverpool]

Don't forget basketball, they run about in their legs aswell

Tell me, are they all as willfully obtuse round your way or do you stand out from the crowd?

[AmericanRam]

Not the case on here,but I think some just hate when Americans say Soccer because they dislike Americans,not really the term itself.

Or am I way offbase on that?

[StaffsRam]

Not the case on here,but I think some just hate when Americans say Soccer because they dislike Americans,not really the term itself.

Or am I way offbase on that?

 

Can't speak for others AR, but that's way off-base for me at least.

[uttoxram75]

The game we call football, ie, played by kicking the ball with your feet, should be called football.

 

Rugby Union, Rugby League, Aussie Rules Football, Grid Iron American Football and all the variants of the game where the predominance is using one's hands, should be called gayball.

[froggg]

Not the case on here,but I think some just hate when Americans say Soccer because they dislike Americans,not really the term itself.

Or am I way offbase on that?

not at all fella, your as English as me

[Albert]

They'd have been better distinguishing it by calling it 'actual football' or 'real football' instead of pretend football (rugby). 

 

Perhaps Handball rules should be changed such that players have to manoeuvre around the court on their hands instead of feet.

What other sports are named for isn't the issue, anyone can call anything whatever they want.

The point is however that "football" is a more general term than association football. The term is older than the game of Association Football, and Rugby Football in particular has as much claim to the name as Association Football. There was a time where there were loads of "Footballs" and a look at the history you can see all the similarities start to appear.

The choice of what is "Football" is entirely to do with context, not to do with some strange sense of dominance, and xenophobia that some tend to cling to. Just because another culture using a different word for something does not make them wrong.

It's these debates though that get particularly grating though, particularly from a historical point of view. Many people don't realise that part of the reason there's such a debate over the "oldest Football Club" is because before 1863, there was no real differentiation between "Association Football" and "Rugby Football", it was the founding of the FA, and the decisions by football clubs such as Blackheath FC to pull out during negotiations of the rules was a key aspect of the schism.

[bcnram]

Does it really matter that much what it is referred to in different countries?

[eddie]

It's worth noting that "Football" refers to a ball game on foot, not a ball game played with the foot.

Also worth noting that name Soccer was introduced in Britain as the parallel to the term "Rugger" for Rugby Football.

 

Ah, I see the significance now.

 

Soccer - a game played by butch people in socks.

 

Rugger - a game played by people who would otherwise prefer to cover themselves in oil and to wrestle naked on a bearskin rug like the bunch of public school fairies they are.