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Issue XXX – Welcome!
I recently learned that…
The term “soccer” isn’t totally inaccurate.
For a majority of the world, the sport is known as football (fútbol), but here in the USofA we call it soccer, and there’s a logical explanation for that.
Ya see, back in 1863, England’s Football Association put a standard set of rules on paper. The sport was already the most popular version in the country, but it wasn’t the only one. Rugby football was also a thing, and it played under the FA’s rules with one slight deviation: Players could grab the ball and run with it. To tell the two apart, the FA's version became association football. Naturally, the long names didn't last. Word-loving Oxford students in the 1880s started calling rugby football "rugger" and association football "assoccer," which was later shortened to "soccer." The nickname caught on fast — but in Britain, it stayed just that, a nickname. By the 20th century, rugby football was simply rugby, and association football had claimed the plain word football for itself.
Across the Atlantic, a different game borrowing bits of both rugby and association football emerged in the late 1800s and quickly outgrew them both in popularity. Officially, it was gridiron football, but Americans mostly dropped the first word. So, to avoid confusion, US association football players leaned more heavily on "soccer" for their sport. The official governing body, formed in the 1910s, became the United States Soccer Football Association in 1945 and eventually ditched "Football" entirely.
So, yes, technically, “soccer” is still a correct term for the sport, and the next time anyone tries to argue and tell you otherwise, just tell them to take it up with the Brits.
🖤 jen
📌 In this issue:
⚽️ EVERYTHING FIFA RELATED — How teams were chosen, how the tournament works, why there are groups, and who to watch!
Let’s dive in!
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