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12/13/2010 - Soccer Academy.net is launched!
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Soccer or Football? The Great Debate Continues |
Well...which is it? Soccer or Football?
The debate on whether or not the sport we know and love should be called soccer or football continues despite soccer having become one of the most popular sports on earth. In England and most of the English speaking world, the game is referred to as football. Most of Latin America and Spain refer to it as fútbol. Even Germany uses the term fooseball. It seems logical too. After all, the game is generally played with the feet.
So where did the name "Soccer" come from?
First of all, it's important to note that the term soccer is principally restricted to the United States, Canada, and Australia. In fact, Australia has nicknamed their team the socceroos for quite some time now. Truthfully, many former British colonies refer to it as soccer either now or in the recent past.
Secondly, football as it commonly known in the rest of the world was actually referred to as association football when its rules were first laid down many years ago in Great Britain. This term was used to differentiate it from the sport of rugby, which it had just split from.
Those that began to follow the new game affectionately started to turn the "ssoc" part of association football into the word "soccer" by adding the er suffix. While this definitely didn't catch on in England or much of the rest of world, it certainly stuck in some other countries.
How did the North America get to calling it Soccer?
Soccer's rise in popularity in North America coincided with the explosion of American Rules Football, which oddly enough, doesn't really involve using your feet at all. To avoid confusion, the term soccer was used, though not as quickly as you might think. For example, the United States Soccer Federation was originally known as the United States of America Foot Ball Association and didn't change its name until 1945!
Return from Soccer or Football? to History of Soccer
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