Is it "Football" or "Soccer?"
It seems that the word "soccer" was invented by the British and used to describe the game by the upper classes when the game first started. It was the proper name of the game. Eighteen years later as the sport became more popular with middle and lower classes, the term football came into use.
Of course in the confusing times before the internet, especially the 1860's, there were several "Football" sports and different regions practiced different rules. So, in 1863 the "Association Football" was formed to standardize the rules and seperate it from other games such as rugby football.
By the time "Football" spread to the rest of the world, many countries already had a popular sport called football and so in these countries, U.S.A., Australia, Ireland, South Africa, New Zeland...etc.the name "Soccer" was preferred.
Among the other "football" sports, the term football is often in reference to the fact that the game is played on foot as opposed to being played on horseback and not as is commonly assumed because the ball is kicked with the foot.
The Japanese have the first recorded account of a soccer-like game in the year 1004 B.C.
The Romans played a similar game that fielded 27 men on each team.
The ball was originally a solid color and the familiar black and white pattern was an adaptation to make the ball more easily visible on black and white TV's.
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| David Beckham |
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