There are no two sports with fans constantly bickering with each other about the title like football and soccer. Football is a name that is variable depending on the geographical location more than anything else. American football is not the same as UK’s football. They’re completely different with almost nothing in common. While people in the UK would instantly recognize that what Americans call soccer is the UK’s football, it’s generally frowned upon as most refuse to accept the logic behind the terminology.
It’s important to put the two sports into perspective as both hold huge tournaments and garner a lot of traffic and money. Soccer fans at www.topcornermag.com states that the allure that makes the game international, is how enjoyable it is for anyone who has played it. Compared to any sport, soccer has the edge as it has been the most popular sport in the world for decades. We’ll be trying to present you with different concepts that could help clarify which term is correct.
England and Soccer
Former English colonies like Ireland, Australia, South Africa, and others call the UK’s football soccer instead. The reason is that the term soccer was actually more popular than football before the 70s in England. The switch to football became acceptable as football was viewed as an American term that was frowned upon. Former English colonies also happen to have their own version of football, which differs from the US and UK’s version. The Japanese choice to say soccer is a bit eccentric as there is almost zero interest in the American football sport in Japan.
Which Came First?
Two different styles of football were being developed at the same time in England; one uses hands to pass around the ball while the other uses feet. The hand-based one was called rugby, while the foot-based one was called association football. The English’s adorations for slangs quickly morphed rugby into ‘rugger’ and association football was just referred to as ‘assoc’. A funny twist rumoured to be one of the origins of the word soccer was a play on words done by one of the officials in the football association. Some say his friends invited him for a game of ‘rugger’ which he turned down, saying that he’d prefer playing ‘soccer”.
Transition from Soccer to Football
The oddly-named association football was becoming more and more known as soccer in England, the shortening ‘football’ was also used by some as well. Football started sounding more logical as time progressed as it helped outline the main difference between rugby and soccer/football since the former was mainly passed by hand while the latter used the foot. Football became a term that’s more within the realms of simplicity in comparison with association football and is the most commonly used one today.
To conclude, neither the term football or soccer was the original name for the sport. But it’s easy to deduce that football is closer to the original, association football, more than soccer, which is only a play on the word association. Whatever you call it, make sure to put enjoying it as a priority.
