NationStates Jolt Archive

...is played with the feet, association style.

I thank you. :cool:

We've had this too many times before.

You can find the answer in many books on the sport.

Basically, in the middle of the 1800's there was an attempt to standardize the rules of play. There were many forms of football. A group met to accomplish this. The rules they established were adopted by many towns and leagues and were knows as Association Rules Football. This differentiated the game defined by the rules from other forms of football, such as that played at various schools and other leagues, such as Rugby.

It is thought that the name soccer came from Cockney rhyming slang, which would take the first part of the name to shorten it, hence "Soc" from Association tagged with "er".

Soccer is as much the name of the game as football is. The name soccer was used and continues to be used to separate it from other football games. In cultures and locations where soccer is the football game, which is most of the world, it is called football, or fussball or something similar. In countries where another football game is dominant, such as America or Canada, the name soccer is commonly used.

i'll always call it football tho, as if you call it soccer from where i am you get beaten up and accused of being american (shudders) :D

We've had this too many times before.

Sorry about that, I can imagine you have. Just read a bit of the Cricket thread and felt the need to counter the running-with-a-ball-in-your-hands-and-calling-it-football-is-the-only-real-sport-statement. Comes with not having had lunch yet I guess. :mad: