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From: amigo2@ihuxq.UUCP (John Hobson)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: football/soccer
Message-ID: <795@ihuxq.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 21-Mar-84 13:59:09 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxq.795
Posted: Wed Mar 21 13:59:09 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 22-Mar-84 01:39:07 EST
References: <926@sdcrdcf.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 26

"Soccer" is a shortened version of "association football", after the
body in England that codified its rules.  It is often referred to in
England as soccer to distinguish it from Rugby football (of which
there are two types, Association Rugby and Rugby League; Rugby got
its start in a game at Rugby school in England, when a boy playing
in a soccer game picked up the ball and ran with it), but soccer is
still "generic football" in most of the English speaking world.

In the late 19th century, two U.S. colleges (I think that they were
Lehigh and Yale; someone will, I am sure, correct me if I am wrong)
arranged to play a variant of Rugby.  This is recognized as the
first football game in the U.S.; and, since soccer was rarely
played, the game was called football.  American football has become
generic football in the U.S.

There is, as I am sure you know, a Canadian football, which is a
variant of the U.S. game; and is generic football in Canada.  There
is an Australian football which is a variant of Rugby (reported to
be the world's roughest game), and I do not know whether it or soccer
is generic football in Australia.

				John Hobson
				AT&T Bell Labs--Naperville, IL
				ihnp4!ihuxq!amigo2