Apparently American’s word for football is a shortened version of Assoccer, an abbreviation of “Association Football,” the term given the game as it was played at elite British boys’ schools in the 1860s. “Assoccer” became “soccer” and the name somewhat stuck as it served to distinguish it from rugby-rules football.
As players, coaches, sailors, and the enthusiastic exported the game around the world courtesy of the British Empire, local languages appropriated “football” as a loan word. For example, the Spanish fútbol doesn’t literally combine the Spanish words for “foot” and “ball” but is an approximation of the British word for the ever-popular game. The game came to U.S. shores in the late 19th century and was called “football” in the U.S. until after World War II when the increasing popularity of the National Football League (NFL) prompted a change in name. Where English is a country’s first language, “football” often refers to the most popular form of football in that country. Only three English-speaking FIFA countries refer to the game as “soccer”: the U.S., Samoa, and Canada.
@Limey and I had this conversation years ago as to where the term soccer originated. In the UK, until the 1970’s, that was the name for the sport until the more generic football took hold.
In Australia, the term “footy” usually refers to Aussie Rules (AFL). Except in New South Wales and Queensland, where Rugby League and to a lesser Rugby Union are more popular and have much longer histories.
This guy has a far better breakdown (apologies, couldn’t find the YouTube video):
“Soccer” was common in England up until around WWII, when Americans adopted the term. Then suddenly the English hated it because people thought it was an Americanism.
Ten years ago, Richards would’ve been playing for a Champions League team in Italy, Spain or Germany. Instead, he’s playing 99.5% of the minutes for, well, the fourth-place team in England.
Even if you don’t think Crystal Palace will be there come season’s end, the team is currently rated as the 12th best in the world by Opta. Such is the financial might of the Premier League that Palace, according to these ratings, would be the second-best team in France, Italy, and Germany, while they’d be behind only Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain.
More simply, Palace is the best team any American is currently playing for, and Richards is playing every minute of every game.
Is anybody else watching this Ravens-Bengals game? Schoolyard junkball. It’s pretty comical. Interception, so many dropped passes, turnover, missed handoffs, sacks (mostly on Burrow). Just an all-around ruckus. Not sure how the score is 14-0 Ravens at the half, honestly.
Women’s volleyball is on ESPN: Regional Final, Texas(1) vs Wisconsin(3) from the cool confines of Gregory Gymnasium, which looks a whole lot different than it did in 1993
No kidding. I would go down there in the 80’s to play pickup basketball. I also played a soccer game against SMU down the hill behind Gregory (in ‘75 or ‘76, I guess), but that soccer field disappeared a long time ago.
From the ESPN article I read, it sounds like somebody may have raked down his ankle with a stud and cut him, but there may not be significant structural injury. That would be good news for USMNT, at least, although Palace won’t be happy to lose him for 2-3 weeks. It’ll make the Guehi situation even stickier, too.
