Football vs Soccer

[DeletedUser]

Coming from Europe, it annoys me hearing people call Soccer a game played 99% by kicking a ball with the foot. There are only 2 players allowed to touch the ball with their hands during the play (not counting the occasions when the ball goes out of the field or the penalty kicks when players place the ball with their hand on the spot it needs to be).
I also cannot understand why American Football is actually called Football. They rarely kick the ball with the foot, they mostly carry the ball in their hands, throw it and catch it and pile on it trying to grab it WITH THEIR HANDS.
It makes more sense to me to call football a game where you have to kick the ball with your feet (and when you cannot, with your head to pass it or your chest to slow it and kick it with your feet).
If anybody can make a reasonable point, it might help me not get so annoyed next time someone calls Football, soccer.

 

[DeletedUser]

americans are a rather unimaginative bunch......they have loads of problems.....and im american......

 

[DeletedUser]

Imaginative or not, there are things done differently in America, like:
- measures (inches and feet, ounces, Fahrenheit and so on)
- plug ins
I have no problem with that, in fact I learned to adapt.
But I don't get why Soccer? And why Football for the other one? It makes no sense to me.

 

[delldell56]

I also cannot understand why American Football is actually called Football. They rarely kick the ball with the foot, they mostly carry the ball in their hands, throw it and catch it and pile on it trying to grab it WITH THEIR HANDS.
.

actually, a lot of times when they're running, they carry the ball under their armpits. but i guess a sport named "armpitball" wouldn't be extremely popular?

 

[DeletedUser]

I'd rather we adopt the SI than keeping our feet and inches.....really, imo the only good thing about the us is its research universities and that's about it....

 

[DeletedUser22575]

at one point in time they actually kicked the ball a lot more. drop kicks, etc, use to be a pretty standard play.

 

[DeletedUser]

Hmm, okay...

Football refers to a type of team sport, with each variation being referred to as codes (or rules). American football is one code, association football (soccer) is another code. They all derived from the same sorts of games, which originated probably as early as Ancient Greece. American football was a variant of rugby (aka: rugby football), the rules having changed so dramatically because many colleges in the U.S. banned the game due to deaths and serious injuries. The forward pass was the significant game-changer for American football, the introduction that served to dramatically reduce injuries. It also virtually eliminated bunting, or foot-forward ball movements.

So there it is.

 

[DeletedUser]

EOD.

(lazy link to image, let me know if it doesn't show)

 

[DeletedUser9470]

nice one jr, i like hells futile attempt at explaining why peeps change the name of a sport to something else completely unrelated.
calling padded cheating rugby game "football", is like calling rounders with a padded glove "tennis".

 

[DeletedUser]

just wondering since there are about 5 different games called "football" should we change those names too? Australian football were you can score with your feet, or passing the ball by hand(Handball), or by running with it. or there is Gaelic football which is like Soccer (football) but you can use your hands

this is just to name a few of the games known as "football"

and Rugby (were you carry the ball most of the time) the official name for it is (Drum roll please) Rugby football

 

[DeletedUser]

Fair enough, then why is the game that deserves that name the most called soccer? Just like we say american football can't they say european football or whatever. something other than soccer.

 

[DeletedUser]

Fair enough, then why is the game that deserves that name the most called soccer? Just like we say american football can't they say european football or whatever. something other than soccer.

because with so many games with the same name they could get confusing. what if someone just called it football when they were talking to someone in Australia (or any other country for that matter) who calls there game football it could get confusing. we should just call it soccer because you play it with socks on. and you sock the ball with your foot.

 

[DeletedUser]

because with so many games with the same name they could get confusing. what if someone just called it football when they were talking to someone in Australia (or any other country for that matter) who calls there game football it could get confusing. we should just call it soccer because you play it with socks on. and you sock the ball with your foot.

BY that logic you agree that american footballs proper name is indeed "Hand-egg" as you are carrying an egg with your hands.

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[DeletedUser]

BY that logic you agree that american footballs proper name is indeed "Hand-egg" as you are carrying an egg with your hands.

Thanks for clearing that up.

by your logic so should rugby.

 

[DeletedUser9470]

by your logic so should rugby.

by that logic so should golf.

 

[DeletedUser]

Hmm, okay...

Football refers to a type of team sport, with each variation being referred to as codes (or rules). American football is one code, association football (soccer) is another code. They all derived from the same sorts of games, which originated probably as early as Ancient Greece. American football was a variant of rugby (aka: rugby football), the rules having changed so dramatically because many colleges in the U.S. banned the game due to deaths and serious injuries. The forward pass was the significant game-changer for American football, the introduction that served to dramatically reduce injuries. It also virtually eliminated bunting, or foot-forward ball movements.

So there it is.

Exactly, American Football was a variant of rugby, so why not American Rugby Football (short: American Rugby which would be more appropriate)? It would make a lot more sense. I can understand the need to change the rules and reduce injuries (is a brutal game), but why not change the name all together and chose a more appropriate one to the current play?

just wondering since there are about 5 different games called "football" should we change those names too? Australian football were you can score with your feet, or passing the ball by hand(Handball), or by running with it. or there is Gaelic football which is like Soccer (football) but you can use your hands

this is just to name a few of the games known as "football"

and Rugby (were you carry the ball most of the time) the official name for it is (Drum roll please) Rugby football

If you go to Europe and say "football", everybody will think you talk about European Football (what Americans call Soccer). If you do say Soccer in Europe, you might offend someone. In America if you say "football", people will think you talk about American Football. There should be a different term for each game that everybody will recognize and know exactly what you are talking about. Why? Due to globalization. For example: this is an international forum, where people all over the world communicate. Why should I say Soccer, when only Americans recognize it as soccer and is Football for the rest of the world? It would be more appropriate to call it Football, judging by the game play compared to the American Football. Due to the strong international position of the US, people tend to accept saying Soccer on the global stage, but it shouldn't be so. It should be Football and American Football/American Rugby!

 

[DeletedUser]

I also cannot understand why American Football is actually called Football. They rarely kick the ball with the foot, they mostly carry the ball in their hands, throw it and catch it and pile on it trying to grab it WITH THEIR HANDS.

And there are no crickets in cricket, what does that have to do with anything? The name is in the history. American football evolved from rugby and association football and kept the name, just like Australian football or Gaelic football did, in both of which you can use your hands.

Why is it that an American isn't playing football when they throw or catch a ball but a soccer goalie is? There are thousands of words in English which bear no relation to their etymological roots. Words evolve over time and meanings change. You're trying to apply some sort of fuzzy logic to the English language, which just doesn't work. When a word's meaning has crossed some 50% threshold, you don't switch to a new word, the word's meaning changes. When American football reached the point where it was 51% hands, it wasn't, and shouldn't have been, renamed handball.

 

[DeletedUser]

Because we live in a globalized world and the same word means different things to different people. Why should I be forced to call it Soccer in this forum for example, just because it is called Soccer in America? Who decides what's called football on the global stage? I am not disputing the logic behind calling American Football, Football. I am disputing the logic behind calling association football, Soccer. Where it originated, why and why should it be recognized globally as Soccer instead of football? On 5 out of 6 continents, the game is called football. Judging from a democratic point of view, it should be called Football on a global scale (majority rule). Calling it soccer = tyranny of the minority!

 

[DeletedUser]

Because we live in a globalized world and the same word means different things to different people. Why should I be forced to call it Soccer in this forum for example, just because it is called Soccer in America? Who decides what's called football on the global stage? I am not disputing the logic behind calling American Football, Football. I am disputing the logic behind calling association football, Soccer. Where it originated, why and why should it be recognized globally as Soccer instead of football? On 5 out of 6 continents, the game is called football. Judging from a democratic point of view, it should be called Football on a global scale (majority rule). Calling it soccer = tyranny of the minority!

there are many names for different things. by your logic the Euro should be called a dollar because the USD is used in more places.

 

[DeletedUser]

Calling it soccer = tyranny of the minority!

No, it's the fact that soccer is played by little boys in short pants, while American football is played by MEN in...capri pants? I usually try to call it American football in the forums (and anywhere else that's international) and I call it soccer because it's shorter. Calling either football just causes confusion if the context isn't clear. If American football had an abbreviated form besides "football" I'd use it too, but since it doesn't, and association football does, I don't usually call either "football".