People raised in the US: Did you ever ponder why football is called that?

[An_Gadai]

@Chronos

Add Ireland to the list of countries that call the World Cup sport “soccer”. “Football”, there, means Gaelic rules football.

Now I’m not big on sports but (in Dublin at least) this isn’t true to the best of my knowledge. Football in Ireland means soccer whereas Gaelic, GAH, or Gaelic Football are the terms used for Gaelic Football. Although Gaelic Football is a huge sport nationally, soccer is a huge concern too with most Irishmen supporting one or other British team, and supporting the national soccer team fervently. There are presumably contexts where Gaelic is just referred to as football but only where it is so clear that the sport is being talked about as to not need the clarification.

[jjimm]

@Chronos

Add Ireland to the list of countries that call the World Cup sport “soccer”. “Football”, there, means Gaelic rules football.

This isn’t true. In all my years of living in Ireland, I never once heard anyone call it ‘soccer’. Nor anyone use ‘football’ on its own without qualifying that they meant Gaelic football (commonly referred to as ‘gaa’ for the Gaelic Athletic Association) rather than soccer. Sample article from the Irish Times. Use the site search for many more.

Not that the population of Ireland is big enough to sway the assertion, of course.

[zamboniracer]

@Polerius

For people raised in the US, as a kid did you ever wonder why a game in which, most of the time, nobody kicks the ball with their foot (people mainly just pass the ball with their hands or hold the ball with their hands and run, and only during rare moments does someone actually get to use their foot on the ball), why such a game would be called ‘football’?

FWIW, when I was a kid during the 1960s & '1970s, I didn’t give the game in question any thought at all. I didn’t wonder about the appropriateness of its name at all because the game itself never entered my consciousness. Those were good days. Is the World Cup over yet? Can we get back to important sports stuff, like the American League Central Division race yet?

[Rushgeekgirl]

I never cared what any of it was called. It’s just a sport so the details don’t much matter to me.

[Polerius]

@Rushgeekgirl

I never cared what any of it was called. It’s just a sport so the details don’t much matter to me.

Isn’t this the SDMB, the message board of the Straight Dope, where things like “Why is New York call Big Apple?” are studied and talked about?

Sure, New York is just a city and millions of people never care why it is called the Big Apple. But on the SDMB, I expect many people have been curious about it at some point in their lives.

Yes, football is just a sport and millions of people never care why it is called that. But on the SDMB, I expected some people to have been curious about it at some point in their lives.

[mascaroni]

@Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party

Rugby was not derived from association football…

True. both codes developed from games of football at UK public schools. Each school would have it’s own set of rules, presumably making inter-schools matches rather difficult to umpire. The Football Association and The Rugby Union set about standardising the rules, soccer being based on the predominantly kicking-based game and rugger on the handling game. Rugby League was a further schism, as a result of rugger clubs in the north of England openly paying their players.
I don’t know enough about the history of American football, Gaelic football or Aussie rules football to be sure, but I think it likely that they came from the same original source.
A description of an 1830’s football game from “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” http://www.literature.org/authors/hughes-thomas/tom-browns-schooldays/chapter-05.html

[mnemosyne]

@RickJay

…Canada’s two pro soccer teams are official styled with the word “football” even though Canadians call it soccer.

Two? There are three professional soccer teams in Canada.

Toronto FC
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Montreal Impact Football Club

And all three reference “football” in their names, though it seems only Montreal spells it out (I didn’t look any further than wiki to see what their legal name is!)

[SciFiSam]

@Harmonious_Discord

It’s soccer because they always fight and sock people. I guess we could call it Brawling, but that would confuse the bowlers, which is another sport Brits are confused about.

Bowling in America is done in lanes in a building.
Bowling in England is outdoors on a lawn.

Skittles in America is a popular candy.
Skittles in England is a a weird indoor bowling.

Nah, we have bowling like you do too (outdoor on a lawn it’s called ‘bowls’ and people ‘play bowls,’ not 'go bowling;) and we also have Skittles the sweets. The game skittles can be indoor or outdoor and is pretty much like US bowling but with the kind of equipment you can carry to a picnic.

[Cugel]

@RickJay

In fact, in 2005 Australia’s official federation renamed itself the Australian Soccer Federation to align its name with what Australians actually called the sport.

The other way round, strangely. It’s now FFA (Football Federation Australia), presumably so they felt chummy with the overseas movers and shakers, or something. Previous titles named the sport (as does the vernacular) soccer, and the national side, the Socceroos, retain it.

This has led to the appearance of Winston Smith types, who now argue that it was always called football. Not really of course, but it seems that way.

[El_Presidente]

Not for one second. American Football has its roots in soccer “football”, and actually enjoys as much if not MORE history than soccer.

Soccer fans marvel at how much we ignore their sport, and worship football, baseball, hockey and basketball, but the fact is, and I say this as a HUGE soccer fan, all of those sports enjoy over 100 years of rich history in our country.

You could almost make an argument that based on historical roots Lacrosse deserves more respect than any other modern sport . . . .

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Alessan

The word “polo” may be new, but English gentry has been playing games on horseback since the middle ages. The commoners, being common, played on foot. With a ball. Hence, “foot-ball”.

No, they haven’t. Polo came to England via India in the late eighteenth century; before that, the only game played on horseback was the joust, which unless memory totally fails me does not involve a ball.

[davekhps]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

No, they haven’t. Polo came to England via India in the late eighteenth century; before that, the only game played on horseback was the joust, which unless memory totally fails me does not involve a ball.

But DID involves balls.

[amanset]

@Ximenean

But you’re right, there is no actual basis for rolling our eyes when people call it soccer.

I’m not sure anyone does except as a response to people telling us that we should call it by its real name, soccer, and that it isn’t “real” football, played by men etc.

I certainly have no issue with the word, but I only use it to avoid confusion. Hell, when discussing American football with Americans (which I do, seeing as I have good American friends IRL) I will call the sport in that context “football”.

[Cardinal]

@amanset

I’m not sure anyone does except as a response to people telling us that we should call it by its real name, soccer, and that it isn’t “real” football, played by men etc.

I think you haven’t seen that hateful, small-country-complex rant by John Cleese. I couldn’t watch it all, and it’s liable to color my view of Monty Python being funny.

[TriPolar]

American Exceptionalism. 'Nuff said.

[Gagundathar]

@Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party

Rugby was not derived from association football, and Web Ellis likely did not pick up the ball and run with it at Rugby school. The two sports evolved together at the same time, and even in the mid-to-late nineteenth century there were still substantial differences between the style of football (soccer) played in different parts of the UK. The Sheffield rules effectively brought in the heading game, for instance, and allowed players to catch the ball from a throw-in and call “safe” (still a rule in rugby, if you catch the ball in the 22). There’s a rugby club in Edinburgh that’s the second oldest football (of any code) club in the world. It’s called “Edinburgh Academical Football Club”, and was formed when rugby and football were essentially the same game, hence no mention of rugby in the name of the club.

Thanks for the info. I sure am glad I prefaced my assertion with ‘As far as I know’. heh heh heh