Welcome to the Reuters Soccer Blog, your forum for discussion and intelligent debate on the hot topics from the international soccer scene.
Reuters sports correspondents are experts in their field and football fanatics all. Reporters from Rio to Berlin, from Milan to Tokyo, will regularly give you the lowdown on what goes on behind the scenes with the big international players and the top clubs and national sides. They speak to players in their own tongue and want to start a conversation with you in the language of football.
We’ll raise the issues but it’s your discussion and we want to hear what you think. If there are issues you want to bring up, we want to know about them. We want to hear what you like about the world’s greatest game and what you don’t like. And if you’re not happy with the way we cover the sport, we’d like you to tell us how you think we could do better.
Some people tell us we should always say “football”, not “soccer”. Well, we don’t agree and this is why. There seems to be some strange misconception, especially in the U.K., that the term “soccer” is American. However, the term was probably coined in the 19th century by former England captain Charles Wreford-Brown as a contraction of Association Football — to distinguish it from Rugby Football or “rugger”. It’s a traditional name and we love the game’s traditions — which is why we still say “linesman” and not “assistant referee”. But you may think differently… Just let us know.
Paul Radford is Reuters Sports Editor
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31 comments so far
hi all,
- Posted by aidy parkerwhat a fantastic way to access world football. and question all the experts at the same time. please pass on my thanks to all concerned. and 100 bonus points (or whatever you guys do) to the person/persons who had this fantastic idea!
Thanks, i’m hooked.
Aidy
It’s not so much the American connotations of ’soccer’ more those of class and era. I love the idea of Reuters ignoring fads and fashions in language (’linesman’ rather than ‘assistant referee’) but think you risk appearing old-fashioned in resorting to the Victorian roots of the game. How far does this go? I have an image of the gentleman reporters of Reuters, dressed in dinner suits like the earliest BBC radio newsreaders, earnestly listening to the results coming in over the ‘wireless’.
- Posted by the beautiful gameFA - as in the “football” song (usually sung to Arsenal fans this season) - “You’re gonna win FA” - is also used as an abbreviation for the Football Association. Football is also one of the effs in FIFA the world governing body of football. Most clubs and national teams have the equivalent of the FC (football club) in their title. It seems other sports pretending to the title of “Football” need to supplement it with other branding or descriptions - Aussie rules, Rugby, Gaellic etc. In the modern age, it appears to be primarily American’s who are the main proponents of using the term “soccer” as they struggle to differentiate or brand it and bring it into the mainstream of Amercian sport(s). So please don’t be dictated to by a sporting nation who’s baseball clubs compete for a “World” series and who don’t understand how football can be so successful even though it wasn’t invented in the USA.
Surely the only true “football” game is one where the majority of players are penalised for using their hands.
So, to mix my abbreviations - Football off! and call it by its proper name.
- Posted by Sepp BloggerPlease call it ‘Football’ Mr Radford.
Yes, it is true that ‘Soccer’ is a word by an Englishman and not an American. But that was a century ago and now, Americans have adopted the word ‘Soccer’ as their own.
We already have enough American cultural hegemony. Please call football, a game played with your foot and penalised if you use your hands as Football.
- Posted by Five TimesSoccer or Football?
- Posted by aidy parkerThe terminology seems to suggest there is a division, But on closer inspection i think it’s just down to individual preference. as an avid supporter of a lower leauge club i’m more upset that the English FA sold out to “That” American drinks company. Fortunately the deal only runs for three more seasons, By which time “That” Soda company and the general USA public will have lost interest in “Soccer” .To be replaced by Becks and Posh’s new show “When rich educationless Brits earn BIG BUCKS”. and the great game will prosper.
In American football only two people (Sometimes one person) per side get to kick the ball, therefore it is simply a misnomer. I suppose anyway our American cousins are attempting to destroy English at every turn and especially in sports where coaches and supposedly educated sports writers speak regularly about the winningest team. Football, the true game is played all over the world by people with their feet. I see no possible further debate.
- Posted by James GarrityHi all,
I find it a little humorous that some of you show such disdain for America, due to the fact we call it “soccer”. What difference does it make what we choose to call it? In the US football is what we think of when we hear the word. If you call our football “idiots with an oblong ball”, I couldn’t care less if it helps you differentiate the two.
The US could care less that you call it football and we don’t go around trying to convert people to calling it soccer, as some of you seem so determined to make sure it’s called football.
My advice: We should all get over it.
- Posted by Russbeing Italian, how to name the most beautiful game in the World is not a problem: Calcio, that is!And that probably thanks to the Romans who played en earlier version,the Florentines who have played another version (calcio Storico) for the past five hundred years (50 players per team,foot,hands and kicks to the groin permitted), or more probably to Mussolini who expunged our language forcing an Italian translation for the English terms of the game. But till today when Maldini, Totti, Cannavaro or Ronaldo speak about their coaches, they call them “il mister” because historically the modern game was brought to us by the English at the end of the 19th century.Eternal gratitude to them and plenty of “reti!!!”(goals) in their net.
- Posted by Piero LongoSo in conclusion,call it what you must or what you want, but play it,love it and cherish it.
Hmmm lets not turn this into a UK VS US debate. The game will either be called “Soccer” or “Football”. The only reason Americans use the term “Soccer” is because of the much more nationally popular “American Football” (that name alone is for another debate, on another day). I say stick with Football, even Americans will understand that Football refers to the world popular game they call “soccer” when discussing the subject in international circles.
- Posted by DeavanFootball, fodbold, Fussbal. Futbal, futbol, etc.
- Posted by Morten ThomsenI can go on Football is a truely international game. The conscious around the world is that the logic name for this great sport is combining the word for extremity at the end of the leg with the name of a sphere. No matter what the origin of the word soccer it only represent the game of the world FOOTBALL for a small group of people mainly in the US.
I commend that Reuters is going to cover football, but if you want to include an audience outside north america please call it Football.
Does the name really matter? As long as everyone understands what it’s all about it should be OK. What matters is the great game that, in my opinion, doesn’t get the attention it deserves, being eclipsed by “football” that is hardly known beyond the US borders.
- Posted by AnonymousNo podemos negar que Soccer or Futbol es el deporte de mas pasion!!!!
- Posted by Luis GuerreroPreference is one thing but i think the greatest sport in the world should have as many names as it needs. Football or Soccer depends on whom you’re speaking to communicate it. The real question here is why ‘american football’ is called football.
- Posted by Andre PurwoI cannot understand why people get so heated over this topic. It’s just a word. I’m an American and my favorite sport to watch is Soccer. You see in America we are forced to say Soccer because we have that other game that Americans chose to to name Football nearly a hundred years ago. No one alive today had anything to do with naming football. Not to mention most people are never told that Soccer is called football in its home country, therefore we grow up only knowing it as Soccer. I’m not going to change my habits and ways because someone seems to get offended by what I choose to call a game. Why don’t we just come to the understanding that the game has two names across the world and just live with it. When I say soccer you know exactly what I mean, and when someone from Europe says football to me I assume they’re talking about the real “football”.
Here is a much better idea that we could put our energy to rather than debating the name of a game. We could try and get Soccer to actually get aired in America and change 90% of Americans idea toward soccer (everyone I know but two people hate it). That way we can enjoy some Soccer over here in America as well!
- Posted by Nathan JamesFootball is the proper and only name that should be used. For those US-centric readers of this forum, your game is called “Goonsball”.
- Posted by TonyI’ve played the sport my whole life here in America (center forward ftw!!), and I do call it ‘football’. I’m 44 now and I still call it football, and I still juggle everyday.
- Posted by SeanAmerican English is just a dialect of standard English that deviates from the standard in many ways, so let them call it “soccer.” Translate “soccer” into any other language (including other varieties of English as well as the standard) and you’ll get some variation of “football” so the rest of the world will understand.
- Posted by Happy BlobberI have heard that American “football” gets its name from the fact that the oval shaped ball is about a foot long. As wildly popular as the game is in the US, I’m guessing Americans are going to continue calling “the real football” soccer, and the rest of the world will call American football just that, “American Football” - that is if they speak about it at all!
- Posted by GioIn my opnion, the media should refer to the game by its local name, based on area of publication.
Con permiso, let me just translate for Luis:
- Posted by Kevin Fylan“No one can deny that soccer or football is the sport that inspires most passion.”
Hear! Hear!
Call it “Goonsball” if you want, but American football stadiums aren’t the ones with lines of police wielding clubs and tear gas to help put down riots. And if we are going to get upset about how different words mean different things in different countries, then I’ll have to object to the British calling their cigarettes “fags”. It’s a demeaning, insulting term.
The point of this is that we all have different “localized” terms for things. What Americans call a trunk on a car is called a boot in Britian, but I don’t see anybody having problems with that.
Then let’s not forget Australian football. That’s not the game the international community considers football either. Why don’t we go after the Aussies and demand they change the name of one of their favorite games to meet international standards.
- Posted by K.GWhy do you insist on renaming what BILLIONS of people call football around the world? Your job is to report the news, not make them or twist them. It would be very improper and occasionally silly to try and explain in 200 languages that what people have been calling football really isn’t or shouldn’t be called that. How about “letting freedom ring” and having the world have it’s say instead of imposing yet another americanism on them?
- Posted by dimitris economouHow can anygame that uses”hands” be called “football”?
- Posted by willy250Football SHOULD be called football, wherever you are from.
why? simple,because that’s the rules of the game - you kick the ball with your feet. If you were meant to handle the ball, it would be called rugby, or anything else with ball.
with this definition in mind, it makes me wonder why did the founding fathers of american football decide to call it football, if they are supposed handle the ball?????
- Posted by JohnI am surprised by the US vs other argument in this blog. In Australia Soccer was the traditional name for at least the last 70 years (pre US influence), and my travels suggest it is a traditional name in some other countries, particularly those with a UK historical connection. Does this suggest soccer was the global traditional name? So why is there an argument anyway? I have noticed a drive to rename all that was “soccer” in Australia as “football”. Is the passsion of the game being harnessed for commercial benefit? A commercial need to narrow and focus a brand might begin a push for a common name. A clever move would be to associate an alternate brand “soccer” as part of US culture - that would guarantee quick rejection in many places.
- Posted by Colin CunninghamCharles Wreford-Brown (9 October 1866 26 November 1951) is usually credited with inventing the word soccer as an abbreviation for association football.
He was born in Bristol and attended Charterhouse School before going on to Oriel College, Oxford University. He was a keen amateur sportsman and played both cricket and football for the university. He later played cricket for Gloucestershire and football for the Old Carthusians and Corinthians, and captained the English national football team several times between 1894 and 1895.
- Posted by JimYes,I think differently, the proper terms is football, not soccer. Even if the term soccer was used first time by an european, now is used frequently by the americans, so is american, not an UK term.
- Posted by masticWell, now that the name’s been dragged through hell are we going to debate the “Great game”?
- Posted by aidy parkerShould proffessional players be penalised for not obeying the games laws? i.e. not retreating 10 yards, claiming throw ins/ fouls/ corners/hand balls, when the referee has clearly seen and made a judgement on any given incident. If as i suspect that upcoming talent is taught to cheat to gain any advantage for the team should the team be penalised?
This is a vey interesting discussion about the history of football, and whether or not you should call it soccer, but it’s not really going to get us anywhere. Let’s start talking about some current football news - e.g. England’s attrocious performance in recent games, culminating in one of the most boring matches I’ve ever seen against Israel. Why is our team so much worse than the sum of its parts, and should McClaren’s head roll asap? (BTW, my opinion is yes)
- Posted by JanHi Jan, and thanks for your comment. Just in case you haven’t seen there are a couple of pieces about england’s coach which you can find at the main page, http://blogs.reuters.com/soccer. I’d love to see you comment over there as well. All welcome.
- Posted by kevin fylanI thought you might be interested in this. It is a link to a middle school soccer team website in Houston. It is pretty funny. Check out the “interesting facts”, “stone face”, “ask the ’stache”, and “photo album” sections. A lot of the boys have chosen your blog to read and report each week in class so it would mean a lot to them. Let us know what you think. Thanks.
-Coach
- Posted by CoachI know it’s poor form to let a few facts get in the way of a good meaningless argument but here they are:
The proper name for Soccer is called Association Football (trawl the FIFA website and you’ll find that in their statues).
Generically, the word “football” means any one of a number of codes of football games and specifically means the form of football predominant in the users context. It’s like “Dog” and “Corgi”. All corgi’s are dogs but not all dogs are corgis. IMagine saying “it’s not a corgi, it’s a dog”
Thus an Amercian saying football means American Football, An Irishman means Gaelic etc. a Engishmain means Association Football, etc. Say the word “football” in Melbourne and it only means Australian Rules Football.
Every code has the right to call their game football. They are all derived from ball games played on foot in Europe (as opposed to games played on horseback by the gentry of the time)
The orignal 1863 rules of Association Football allowed for all players to catch the ball, call “Mark” and have free kick. So much for not using the hands. That’s why the goalkeeper still catches the ball.
All football codes evolved, some more and faster than others.
The word soccer was derived by the english in late nineteenth century and was in common use in England in the early 20th century.
Association football never gained much standing in any of the British commonwealth and previous English colonies (where it is usually called Soccer) - it is more a European game than a British game. Most commonwealth nations took up Rugby. Several invented their own forms of football.
Anyone insisting that it’s not soccer it football, is simply demonstrating their complete ignorance.
- Posted by MashmanSo if you don’t like the word ’soccer’ then it’s “Association Football” stupid!