What's the etymology of "soccer"

[John_Mace]

I just want to thank the OP for asking a question I was thinking about yesterday. But I didn’t realize the answer was such a political football.

[Cugel]

If this subject interests you and you would like to read pages and pages of the same thing over and over again, consult the Wikipedia talk page and its archives

Talk:Association football

[vontsira]

@UDS

What Inner Stickler said. Plus, “soccer” isn’t a general abbreviation for “association”; it refers specifically to association football. And it represents an abbreviation convention that was common in English schools in the nineteenth century; take the first stressed syllable of the word to be abbreviated, and add the suffix “-er”. The abbreviation “rugger” (for rugby football) is another example which is still current. But you also have “footer” (football of unspecified code), “brekker” (breakfast), “fiver” and “tenner” for five-pound and ten-pound notes, and more besides. Most of them would now seem pretty dated.

This post not about sport; but, I would say, an early-twentieth-century convention too. It sometimes went to over-the-top lengths – as in “wagger-pagger-bagger” (waste-paper basket); and the Pragger-Wagger (Prince of Wales).

[chrisk]

@vontsira

This post not about sport; but, I would say, an early-twentieth-century convention too. It sometimes went to over-the-top lengths – as in “wagger-pagger-bagger” (waste-paper basket); and the Pragger-Wagger (Prince of Wales).

By that point, they seem to be adding ‘-gger’ wholesale, not just ‘-er’

[Svejk_1]

Good thing it’s Charles not Niles…

[Ludovic]

“Nagger”?

[blindboyard]

@UDS

The Rugby Union codification comes later than the Football Association codification, certainly. But “Rugby football” was being played, and was being called by that name, and had distinctive rules that we would recognise as rugby, well before the Rugby Football Union was formed, and standardised its rules.

Whereas the earliest rules that looked anything like Association Football (e.g. including a no-hands-on-the-ball rule) were the rules promulgated by the Football Association.

(The other innovation of the FA was to ban holding, tripping or “hacking” [kicking the shins of] the player in possession of the ball. It was this rule change which lead Blackheath FA, a founder member of the Football Association, to leave the FA. Blackheath is now a noted Rubgy Union club.)

Actually the Sheffield Rules existed previous to the formation of the FA and always banned hacking and tripping and most handling, although smacking and punching the ball was still alllowed, and the Sheffield rules outlawing most forms of handling led to the creation of the goal-keeper and the header. So those weren’t exactly FA innovations.

[Malacandra]

@Ludovic

“Nagger”?

Fo’ shagger!