Football (word)

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The English word football may mean any one of several team sports (or the ball used in that respective sport), depending on the national or regional origin and location of the person using the word.

Where English is a first language the unqualified use of the word football is used to refer to the most popular code of football in that region. The sports most frequently referred to as simply football are association football (or soccer), American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league football and rugby union football.

Of the 45 national FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) affiliates in which English is an official or primary language, 43 use football in their organisations' official names (Canada and the United States use soccer). Soccer is the prevailing term for association football in the U.S. and Canada, where other codes of football are dominant. In 2005, Australia's association football governing body changed its name from soccer to football to align with the general international usage of the term.^[1] In 2006, New Zealand decided to follow suit.^[2]

There are also many other languages where the common term for association football is phonetically similar to the English term football. (See the Names for association football article.)

Some of the many different codes of football.

Etymology

An early reference to a ball game that was probably football comes from 1280 at Ulgham, Northumberland, England: "Henry... while playing at ball.. ran against David".^[3] Football was played in Ireland in 1308, with a documented reference to John McCrocan, a spectator at a "football game" at Newcastle, County Down being charged with accidentally stabbing a player named William Bernard.^[4] Another reference to a football game comes in 1321 at Shouldham, Norfolk, England: "[d]uring the game at ball as he kicked the ball, a lay friend of his... ran against him and wounded himself".^[3]

France circa 1750

Although the accepted etymology of the word football, or "foot ball", originated in reference to the action of a foot kicking a ball, this may be a false etymology. An alternative explanation has it that the word originally referred to a variety of games in medieval Europe, which were played on foot.^[5] These sports were usually played by peasants, as opposed to the horse-riding sports more often enjoyed by aristocrats. In some cases, the word has been applied to games which involved carrying a ball and specifically banned kicking. For example, the English writer William Hone, writing in 1825 or 1826, quotes the social commentator Sir Frederick Morton Eden, regarding a game — which Hone refers to as "Foot-Ball" — played in the parish of Scone, Perthshire:

The game was this: he who at any time got the ball into his hands, run [sic] with it till overtaken by one of the opposite part; and then, if he could shake himself loose from those on the opposite side who seized him, he run on; if not, he threw the ball from him, unless it was wrested from him by the other party, but no person was allowed to kick it.^[6] [Emphasis added.]

Conversely, in 1363, King Edward III of England issued a proclamation banning "...handball, football, or hockey; coursing and cock-fighting, or other such idle games",^[7] suggesting that "football" was in fact being differentiated from games that involved other parts of the body.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) records that the first written use of the word "football" used to describe a game was in 1424 in an Act forbidding it. The first written use of the word football to describe the ball was 1486, and that the first use as a verb (hence footballing) was in 1599. Although the OED just indicates it is a compound of foot and ball, the 1486 definition indicates that a ball was of the essence of the game.

The word "soccer" originated as an Oxford "-er" slang abbreviation of "association", and is credited to late nineteenth century English footballer, Charles Wreford-Brown.^[8] However, like the William Webb Ellis rugby story, it is believed to be most likely apocryphal.^[9] There is also the sometimes-heard variation, "soccer football".^[10]

National usage

Australia

Within Australia the term "football" is ambiguous and can mean up to four different codes of football in Australian English, depending on the context, geographical location and cultural factors; this includes Australian rules football, Association football, Rugby league, and Rugby union.^[11] In the states of Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania the slang term footy is also used in an unofficial context,^[12] while in these states the two rugby football codes are called rugby. There is a different situation in New South Wales, Queensland and ACT, where rugby union or rugby league are most popular and known as just footy or football. Australia-wide, soccer is commonly used to describe association football^[13], with this usage going back more than a century,^[14] with football gaining traction since Soccer Australia was renamed Football Federation Australia in 2005^[15]

Canada

In Canada, "football" rarely refers to association football, but most often refers to Canadian football or American football, often differentiated as either "CFL" (from the governing Canadian Football League) or "NFL" (from the US National Football League). Because of the similarity between the games, many people in both countries do not consider the two styles of gridiron football separate sports per se, but rather different codes of the same sport which has a shared origin in the Harvard vs McGill game played in 1874 credited with the creation of this sport.^[16][17] If a Canadian were to say, "My brother plays football in the States", it would be clear from context that American football is meant. Association football, which is rapidly gaining in popularity, is called soccer by most; however, as Canada is a very multicultural country, those with strong ties to their foreign heritage, as well as those who have a serious level of involvement in the sport will often refer to association football simply as "football". The topic of which football code is the "true" football can be the source for serious disagreement between fans of association football and either or both of the gridiron codes, as each wish to lay claim to the title. As the popularity of association football in Canada increases with greater access to international matches on television as well as the rising profile of Canadian teams in domestic leagues, it can be said that this is only the beginning of this debate.^[18] Canadian French usage parallels English usage, with le football usually referring to Canadian or American football, and le soccer referring to association football. When there is ambiguity, le football canadien or le football américain is used.^[19] However, "football" (both in English in French) refers to soccer if the game is neither American nor Canadian in context.

Rugby union football in Canada is almost always referred to simply as "rugby", as there is no professional rugby league in the country.

Caribbean

In most of the English-speaking Caribbean, "football" and "soccer" are both used to refer to association football, but use of the word "football" is far more common. The exception is the Bahamas, where the term "football" is used exclusively (while not actually in the Caribbean, usage in Bermuda follows that of the Bahamas). The nickname of the Trinidad and Tobago team, "The Soca Warriors", refers to a style of music, not the word soccer.

Ireland

In Ireland, "football" can mean association football,^[20] Gaelic football^[21][22] or rugby union^[23][24] Any of these sports may be called football depending on the context; usage of the term football without context is generally avoided because of its ambiguity. Full names are used to overcome this ambiguity: instead of football, Gaelic football, rugby football or rugby union and association football or soccer are used. This is the approach taken by most of the Irish media.^{[25][26][27][28][29][30][31]}

New Zealand

A haka performed before a match by the All Blacks

In New Zealand, the most common use of the word is to refer to association football.^[32] While the word football can also used to a lesser extent to refer to rugby league or union, better-known as simply rugby.^[33][34] The slang term footy generally only means either of the two codes of rugby football, while rugby league is traditionally known as rugby league or just league. Usage of the term soccer has gone through a period of transition in recent times as the federation changed its name to New Zealand Football from New Zealand Soccer and the nickname of its women's team to Football Ferns from SWANZ.^[35][36]

South Africa

In South Africa, the word football generally refers to association football. However, association football is commonly known as soccer despite this.^[37] The domestic first division is the Premier Soccer League and both in conversation and the media (see e.g. The Sowetan or Independent Online), the term "soccer" is used. The stadium used for the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup was known as Soccer City. Despite this, the country's national association is called the South African Football Association and "football" is mostly used in official contexts.

Rugby union is another popular football code in South Africa, but it is commonly known as just rugby as rugby league has a smaller presence in the country.^[38][39]

United Kingdom

An example of the word "soccer" used in London in August 2006.

The unqualified use of "football" in the United Kingdom tends to refer to the most popular code of football in the country, which in the case of England, and Scotland is association football. However the term "soccer" is understood by all as a name for association football in the same way that colloquial term rugger is used for rugby union.^[40][41] The word "soccer" was in fact the most common way of referring to association football in the UK until around the 1970s, when it began to be perceived incorrectly as an Americanism.^[42]

For fans who are more interested in other codes of football, within their sporting community, the use of the word 'football' may refer to their own code and they may call association football soccer for brevity and clarity. However even within such sporting communities an unqualified mention of 'football' would usually be a reference to association football.^[43] In its heartlands, rugby league is referred to as either "football" or just "league".^[43]

Fans of Gaelic football in Northern Ireland may use "football" for the sport (see above).^[44] Outside the nationalist community in Northern Ireland, Gaelic football is usually known by its full name.

American football is usually known by that name or "gridiron",^[45][46] a name made familiar to a wider British audience by Channel 4, when it showed American football on Saturday evenings in the period 1982-92.^[47]

United States

An American football

In the United States, the word "football" usually refers to the sport of American football, a variation of gridiron football.^[48][49] However, as in Canada, "football" refers to soccer if the game is neither Canadian nor American in context.

The sport of association football is commonly called "soccer" in the United States. Despite evidence of the sport being called "football" in the late-1800s/early-to-mid-1900s in the country and having a then-significant popularity, soccer has been lacking a nationwide popularity throughout the 20th century, having a significantly smaller mainstream audience than its gridiron counterpart and other popular sports in the USA. Despite the earlier obscurity soccer does have a considerable following, particularly among younger people and immigrant or immigrant-born first generation families from countries whose cultures are tied closely to the sport.^[50] Recently soccer has surged interest in the mainstream audience starting with the United States hosting the World Cup in 1994.

Rugby union is generally known as Rugby, with the "union" name rarely used. Gaelic football and rugby league have very small, albeit growing, numbers of adherents. Most people in the United States are not usually aware of the distinction between rugby union and rugby league, and consequently both are referred to simply as "rugby". Because of the number of American players in the Canadian Football League, a small number of Americans follow Canadian football, which is occasionally broadcast on American cable channels. Because of the similarity between American and Canadian football, many people in both countries do not consider the two styles of football separate sports per se, but rather different codes of the same sport due to their shared origin.

"Football" as a loanword

Many languages use the English word "football" and variations of it as loanwords for association football. Examples include:

• Catalan: futbol
• Czech: fotbal
• Dutch: voetbal
• Esperanto: futbalo
• Filipino: futbol
• French: football (less formally, "le foot")
• Portuguese: futebol
• Icelandic: fótbolti (informal, see below)
• Russian: футбол (futbol)
• Spanish: fútbol or futbol^[51]
• Romanian: fotbal
• Turkish: futbol
• Serbian: фудбал (fudbal)
• Polish: piłka nożna or futbol

This has contributed to the adoption of the word football into the auxiliary language Interlingua.

The loanwords bear little or no resemblance to the native words for "foot" and "ball". By contrast, some languages have calques of "football": their speakers use equivalent terms that combine their words for "foot" and "ball". An example is the Greek ποδόσφαιρο (podósfero).

In German, "Football" is a loanword for American football, while the German word Fußball, a calque of "football" (Fuß = "foot", Ball = "ball"), means association football. The same goes for Dutch voetbal (voet = "foot", bal = "ball"), Swedish fotboll (fot = "foot", boll = "ball"), and so on — the words for "foot" and "ball" are very similar in all the Germanic languages. Only two Germanic languages do not use "football" or a calque thereof as their primary word for association football:

• Afrikaans — sokker. This echoes the predominant use of "soccer" in South African English.
• Icelandic — knattspyrna (knatt- = ball- and spyrna = kicking) is one of the two most common terms; this reflects a tendency to create indigenous words for foreign concepts. However, the calque fótbolti is at least equally common.

The Celtic languages also generally refer to association football with calques of "football" — an example is the Welsh pêl-droed. However, Irish, which like Afrikaans is native to a country where "soccer" is the most common English term for the sport, uses sacar.

See also

• Names for association football
• Names of Australian rules football
• Nuclear football
• Political football

Notes and references

Further reading

• Steve Boughey Soccer: Alan Shearer in town this week, Auckland Herald on Sunday, October 3, 2006. This article shows how soccer is used for association football in New Zealand and Australia and how Alan Shearer, a former captain of the English association football team, uses the term soccer to avoid confusion while visiting Australia and New Zealand.