The football/soccer/american football question

[sexy-girl]

title says it all now ... so why


i've often wondered about this why is american football called football ... when there was already a sport called football that had been around long before ... and as far as i can tell american football doesnt use a ball and you hardly use your foot in it


shouldnt it be called handoval or something ?


when was american football invented anywho and was it always called football or did it have another name ?


please no flames im only kidding ... but i would still like to know the answers

 

[Ask For More]

I think orginally they did use their feet, but they decided it was too challenging so they switched to using hands

 

[sexy-girl]

I think orginally they did use their feet, but they decided it was too challenging so they switched to using hands

LOL well you said it not me

 

[Fly_On_Wall]

I may be wrong but didn't football originaly .... to score you had to kick the ball over the goal line? or into something. Almost like Rugbe but there was no goal tender.

I really don't pay much attention to most sports.

 

[Ask For More]

Well according to a friend of mine they did actually kick it before...but it evolved to using hands and then plays and then more complications...

So that's why it's still called football over there...

Although I have had some encounters with American who just insist that gridiron is no.1 and blah blah blah, despite the fact that real football is the most popular sport in the world. Go figure.


*note: I am a fan of gridiron! Don't bash me!*

 

[sexy-girl]

we need some americans in this thread

 

[Fly_On_Wall]

we need some americans in this thread

Who needs americans

 

[WriterDom]

It's pretty simple really. If you play with a football, it's football. If you play with a soccer ball, it's soccer.

 

[gopher&kitsune]

Rough estimate from a Kines Major

A lot of people argue the origin of football itself. Some think it came from a game played by the native americans that used a buffalo stomach and they did play something similar to rugby/soccer. Then it got picked and they found carrying and blocking to more efficient. Then it got to plays as the person said before. And now it is a sport where each play last an average of four seconds but on the average 22 seconds runs from the clock. Taking into conisderation time-outs, incompletions, out of bounds and turn-overs to stop the clock.. A mockery of what it used to be... at least rumored as to what it used to be. Lot's of people argue the origin.

 

[KillerMuffin]

http://wwwwbs.cs.tu-berlin.de/user/tiny/fhistory.html

It doesn't say why football got it's name, but it does tell you how it came about.

 

[Amused]

title says it all now ... so why


i've often wondered about this why is american football called football ...

Because we say so.

 

[Guest]

American football is an evil capitalist game. It takes 100s of dollars to properly outfit one player, compared to the "most popular sport in the world" where all you need is a ball. Shoes are helpful, but optional.

You would think the "more civilized" Europe would outlaw capital punishment in the stands since feetball fan deaths exceed the number of murderers put to death in Texas.

 

[sexy-girl]

thanks KM i knew you'd have some good info


i really am curious about the names ... why you call it football ... perhaps it was just a case of dropping the american part from "american football" but how and where did you get the name soccer from ?

 

[Spinaroonie]

Well, a common Mexican/Spanish name is Soccoro, I bet it came from that. How? I don't know

 

[gopher&kitsune]

Here is your answer

In 1860 "soccer" there was a group called Associated football. Rugby was developing it's own group with a similar name at the same time. To avoid confusion the English started calling it soccer. It retained that name in the US only because American football had already established itself as football here. It got the football name to start because it is a combination of the two sports. Rugby became more defined and the name of it went to back to rugby from football and soccer took back the name football. Rugby's orignal form which is similar to Aussie rules football still exists and is still called football as you can see. The US doesn't call it American football because it is taken as the first football here. I decided since you really seemed to want to know I would find the answer and there you go.

 

[Guest]

At one time the game we call football was called rugby football. It was a development of the British rugby.

And what about Canadian football or Austrailian Rules football?

 

[Skibum]

At one time the game we call football was called rugby football. It was a development of the British rugby.

And what about Canadian football or Austrailian Rules football?

That was me. I have no idea how I got logged out.

 

[Fly_On_Wall]

At one time the game we call football was called rugby football. It was a development of the British rugby.

And what about Canadian football or Austrailian Rules football?

Canadian football is just like US football, but harder.
our field is 110 yards long, there is no far catch rule (is that what it's called?) and we have one less down then the americans do.

 

[gopher&kitsune]

Here is the site for better explination

http://www.research.att.com/~pstone/why.html

 

[Skibum]

There are other differences between American and Canadian football as well. There is an extra player on each team in the Canadian game, and there are additional ways to score.

Many of the players in the Canadian Football League are from American college teams. And some players have made the jump from one league to the other, most notably Doug Flutie. He sarted in the NFL, switched to the CFL, and is now back in the NFL.

 

[Fly_On_Wall]

yah i know there are more differences. but those are the most noticable, that i named. I had no clue about the extra man though.

How are there other ways to score? all i know of is, touchdown, touchback, feild goal, and a punt. are there others?

 

[gopher&kitsune]

punt

You can't score by a punt.

TD-6
FG-3
Safety-2

After TD
2 point conversion-2 if either side scores on this one play
Extrap point-1

 

[gopher&kitsune]

Don't get started on arena

If you really want rules changed and number differences this is bad

 

[sexy-girl]

Re: Here is the site for better explination

http://www.research.att.com/~pstone/why.html

thanks that helps


it explains where the name soccer came from ... still leaves me wondering why americans called their sport football

 

[Fly_On_Wall]

sorry i didn't mean a punt. I ment a field goal (not after a TD though)