Soccer= Socks?
Okay, now I apologize as some of you may be wondering how I could not know this but-- I don't. If you don't either then this blog post is for you. In honor of the beginning of the world cup today's I wonder blog answers the question why the heck is it soccer in the US and football everywhere else?
Ready, pull your socks up, get your cleats on and let's begin..
According to a post by Soccerlens the fact that Americans had anything to do with the creation of the word soccer is a myth. Apparently the word has its' origins back in the 1860's in England when the game was referred to as Association Football. The name was abbreviated to "Assocer" shortened again to Soccer. Soccer was the term used by the upper class for the game. Those in the classes below used the term football.and thus this term was passed down.
According to Slate, when voting upon the universal rules for soccer/football one participant withdrew his vote when the sport disallowed shin-hacking. In fact, there is a quote saying that if shin-hacking was disallowed from the sport, England may as well submit to the French. Wow, now that guy has conviction, I will give him that.
Slate states, association football, football and soccer football were all terms utilized for the game. These terms clarified which game since rugby and gridiron came out of the Victorian meetings mentioned above.
After a while those adhering to the Football Association referred to the sport as football and soccer was the term used in the US, Canada and Australia where the game was played in a slightly different manner.
The US will continue to call the game soccer to avoid confusion with the gridiron style football and Australia uses the term to clarify between soccer and Australian rules football.
Quite a complicated history for such a beautiful game.
Questions, Comments? Corrections? Feel free to post them. Until then GOOOOAAAALLLL!
