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Soccer

Posted by James Briggs on June 06, 2003

In Reply to: Soccer posted by Gary on June 06, 2003

: : Can anybody help me out with the origins of the term soccer. I understand that it comes from football association(abreviated)however I need to know why this term is mostly used in the united states and everywhere else almost uses football. If anyone can help me I would muchly apreciate.

: That's one to stir the hornet's nest. Call football soccer anywhere outside the USA and you risk insult and possibly personal injury.

: 'Soccer' - and I have to shudder when I call it that - originated in England and that is the original and now archaic name for the game. The upper classes had their own game of Rugby Football and so when the plebs came along with their own game they used another name. I'm not sure about it coming from association football, but that might be the case.

: Our US friends invented what everyone else calls American Football, but they call football. Why the aficionados of two games where you pick up the ball and run with it like to call them football remains a mystery.

: Happily, football (I revert to type here) has become the dominant game worldwide, the common people prevail over the forces of darkness and the term soccer (spit) fades into oblivion.

The best suggestion for the origin of the name 'Soccer' comes from the words 'Association Football'. This goes back to the mid 19th century or so when the rules of many ball games were being formulated - rugby football and tennis are some. The story goes that a group of Public (ie private!) Schools in England got together to draw up standard set of rules for the age old game of two teams kicking a round ball. This group formed an 'Association' of schools - hence the name 'Association Football'.
The word 'soccer' can be seen as a possible derivation from this name. No one knows for sure, but it's the best suggestion to ever come forward.

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