Football, soccer or ?The Beautiful Game? - are all names used to describe the most well-liked team game in the world. Although the words football and soccer are largely interchangeable in the UK they have very different meanings in North America.
In the USA the word 'football' is taken to signify American Football, a game more akin to the British rugby football, while soccer refers to the game known to the rest of the world as football.
It is ironic that the word soccer is in fact an English slang term of the word association in the same manner that the word ?brekkers? refers to breakfast.
The regulations of football were first laid down in 1863 by the Football Association in the UK and these are in essence the same rules by which the game is played by today. However they were merely the first endeavour to codify and standardize the vastly varying forms of the game being played in 19th century public schools in England.
However the game has a much longer history and references to a game comparable to today?s football can be found in the texts of one William Fitzstephen in the late 12th century. At a range of times during the medieval period laws were passed prohibitting the playing of football, largely, it is supposed, because it detracted from the time dedicated to archery practice.
So it could be said that England?s supremacy in France at battles such as Crecy and Agincourt , brought around largely as a result of the success of Welsh and English longbowmen, was a direct result of deficiency of expertise on the football pitch!
Football also fell foul of Puritan censorship and attempts to keep the Sabbath holy as of course the only time a working man had any free time to indulge in such pursuits was on a Sunday (the Sabbath)
Incidentally, the term ?the Beautiful Game as a synonym for Association football has no great history to it. Its origins are somewhat uncertain as some assert that it was invented by a Brazilian footballer named Valdir Pereira although the English TV commentator Stuart Hall claims to have coined the phrase in 1958.
From its early beginnings football has now grown into the world?s most commonly played team sport. F?d?ration Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA as it is more commonly known , now has 208 member countries where an estimated 200 million plus players frequently play the game.
Such is the effect of football that star players from the major European leagues and especially the English Premiership are now household names the world wide and it is common when driving through a remote jungle village in South East Asia to get confronted by a larger than life size portrait of say, David Beckham, marketing something as mundane to motor oil.
Little did those gentlemen meeting at the Freemasons Tavern in Great Queen St,. London on the morning of 26 October 1863 to set the rules of the game realise the immense world wide impact their decisions would make.
In the USA the word 'football' is taken to signify American Football, a game more akin to the British rugby football, while soccer refers to the game known to the rest of the world as football.
It is ironic that the word soccer is in fact an English slang term of the word association in the same manner that the word ?brekkers? refers to breakfast.
The regulations of football were first laid down in 1863 by the Football Association in the UK and these are in essence the same rules by which the game is played by today. However they were merely the first endeavour to codify and standardize the vastly varying forms of the game being played in 19th century public schools in England.
However the game has a much longer history and references to a game comparable to today?s football can be found in the texts of one William Fitzstephen in the late 12th century. At a range of times during the medieval period laws were passed prohibitting the playing of football, largely, it is supposed, because it detracted from the time dedicated to archery practice.
So it could be said that England?s supremacy in France at battles such as Crecy and Agincourt , brought around largely as a result of the success of Welsh and English longbowmen, was a direct result of deficiency of expertise on the football pitch!
Football also fell foul of Puritan censorship and attempts to keep the Sabbath holy as of course the only time a working man had any free time to indulge in such pursuits was on a Sunday (the Sabbath)
Incidentally, the term ?the Beautiful Game as a synonym for Association football has no great history to it. Its origins are somewhat uncertain as some assert that it was invented by a Brazilian footballer named Valdir Pereira although the English TV commentator Stuart Hall claims to have coined the phrase in 1958.
From its early beginnings football has now grown into the world?s most commonly played team sport. F?d?ration Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA as it is more commonly known , now has 208 member countries where an estimated 200 million plus players frequently play the game.
Such is the effect of football that star players from the major European leagues and especially the English Premiership are now household names the world wide and it is common when driving through a remote jungle village in South East Asia to get confronted by a larger than life size portrait of say, David Beckham, marketing something as mundane to motor oil.
Little did those gentlemen meeting at the Freemasons Tavern in Great Queen St,. London on the morning of 26 October 1863 to set the rules of the game realise the immense world wide impact their decisions would make.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several subjects, but is currently involved with London Olympics 2012 venues. Click a link if you are interested in 2012 London Olympics Volunteers.
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