# Use of the word "soccer" in the UK

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-word-soccer-in-the-uk/263578>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 8, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-word-soccer-in-the-uk/263578 "2004-09-08T01:14:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-word-soccer-in-the-uk/263578/1 "2004-09-08T01:14:57Z")

</div>

I just watched “Bend It Like Beckham”, and the main character buys some cleats at a London store called “Soccer” something. I was surprised, I thought it was always “football”.

Is this a real store that has an American name to be clever? Or was it just a touch to appeal to the international audience?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-word-soccer-in-the-uk/263578/2 "2004-09-08T01:33:48Z")

</div>

“Soccer” is fairly commonly used. To my British ears it has something of an old-fashioned public-school\* ring to it, though – “soccer” and “rugger” and so on. If we’re talking about watching a match, we invariably call it football or “footy”.

[Here’s a search result](http://www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchAction.do?searchType=classic&companyName=soccer&location=London&mqs=ix) for businesses with the word “soccer” in their name in the London Yellow Pages.

- i.e. posh private school

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-word-soccer-in-the-uk/263578/3 "2004-09-08T01:50:20Z")

</div>

The game we know as “soccer” is derived from “Assocciation Football,” just as “rugby” is derived from “Rugby Football.”

And the slang terms for these in British “public schools” were respectively “soccer” and “rugger” – with “soccer” taking on a new life in America as the standard usage for association-rules football over here, to distinguish it from American/Canadian football.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-word-soccer-in-the-uk/263578/4 "2004-09-08T10:13:39Z")

</div>

> [@Polycarp](#):
>
> The game we know as “soccer” is derived from “Assocciation Football,” just as “rugby” is derived from “Rugby Football.”

That’s right, and “soccer” is particularly used by fans of Rugby Union and Rugby League, because they consider “football” to be a broader term that includes all forms of the game.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-word-soccer-in-the-uk/263578/5 "2004-09-08T10:49:20Z")

</div>

_“Cleats”?_

Another example of two countries separated by a common language. We call them **“Studs”**. In any type of football.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-word-soccer-in-the-uk/263578/6 "2004-09-08T10:51:32Z")

</div>

‘Football’ is definitely the preferred term to use if discussing the game with UK fans.

( **Usram** - please check your e-mail)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lil.smartie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9a28c/32.png) [@lil.smartie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lil.smartie)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-the-word-soccer-in-the-uk/263578/7 "2004-09-08T14:28:52Z")

</div>

prob sport soccer, big sports stores all over the uk  
Kate