David Beckham playing in Major League S#####

[Northern Soul]

Saint David of Beckham has announced he will be playing in L.A after the current European season finishes.
Believe me I am a great fan but have to take a stand here. During his interview yesterday he constantly used the most loathed word in world football. That one the Americans and Australians use for football (Begins with S in case you missed my point :biggrin: )
Afterwards the guy from the BBC used it three times! Something will have to be done. The world plays the beautiful game. Only the USA (possibly Canada, but they are just you guys without the guns arent they?) and Australia play that S game. Saw car or something.

On a serious note. I thought that MLS had a salary cap? Becky is going to be earning (allegedly) 500 times more than the next best footballer in the MLS. So is he going to be the only player on half a dozen teams? Having to play himself in a few games?

One thing is for sure, the USA is going to see a great player. Unfortunately 5 -10 years too late. This was the problem when the States tried this before. The MLS got guys like Pele who was 20-30 years past his best. If football in the States is to really progress, the only way will be to get the good players, when they are still good. Not just big names (Aparently Zinane (retired) and Ronaldo (overweight and 8 years past his 1998 best) could be heading to MLS too. I think tho it may get a few headlines, overall it will have a negative effect on MLS, and make it a mercenaries game, where past it stars get their one last big payday, but stunt any potential for growth within the United States.

At least if that happens the BBC can go back to calling Football, Football.

[1of3]

Its in the soccer thread

http://forums.azcardinals.com/showthread.php?t=17230&page=5

[Joe84]

SOCCER
:bibl:

[AZFAN777]

He's just clearing it up man, dont get all worked up. In America we call it soccer and he's playing for an American team. If he went on the news saying he was playing football in California, all the non-SOCCER fans would be wondering why the 49ers would draft him....

It's no different than you guys referring to "Cell Phones" as "mobiles" or calling potato chips "Crisps"

Different strokes for different folks, and different names for things in different countries. It's not meant to be disrespectful.

Geez lighten up.

oh btw,

SOCCER!!!!!

[cardinals4ever]

SOCCER!!!!! sucks

[AzRedCard]

I hate to bring this up, but the British invented the word SOCCER for the same game. I wonder why that is SOOOOO offensive??

[1of3]

I hate to bring this up, but the British invented the word SOCCER for the same game. I wonder why that is SOOOOO offensive??

Did we ? If we did nobody uses it.

I think people prefer to call it football as the sport is about using your foot to propel the ball. Most British, and people from just about every country in the world apart from the US would consider Football to be a strange name for a sport where the players use their hands more than their feet to control the ball.

Saying that I dont see any reason to get upset about who calls what sport what. If we were all the same this world would be pretty boring.

[lkratavil49]

Did we ? If we did nobody uses it.

I think people prefer to call it football as the sport is about using your foot to propel the ball. Most British, and people from just about every country in the world apart from the US would consider Football to be a strange name for a sport where the players use their hands more than their feet to control the ball.

Saying that I dont see any reason to get upset about who calls what sport what. If we were all the same this world would be pretty boring.

Exactly, and I for one respect my friends outside of the US and their preference for using 'football' as opposed to s*****! Isn't that just simply being a citizen of the world?

[WhyNotTheCards?]

Why DO we call it football anyway? Where did it originally come from? Just wondering, because it is kinda weird to call a game where the only time you actually use your foot is for field goals and kickoffs.

[Mibrilane #56]

Different strokes for different folks, and different names for things in different countries. It's not meant to be disrespectful.
http://www.repmanblog.com/photos/uncategorized/gary_coleman1.jpg

[Mibrilane #56]

I think people prefer to call it football as the sport is about using your foot to propel the ball. Most British, and people from just about every country in the world apart from the US would consider Football to be a strange name for a sport where the players use their hands more than their feet to control the ball.
Well, rugby has little to do with rugs, but they still call it that. :wink:

Both sports come out of rugby football (http://expertfootball.com/history/fa.php):

The game of soccer officially emerged during the late 19th century in England, where a variety of ball games had already developed, all of which involved both handling and kicking. At a meeting of the London Football Association (FA) in 1863, the game of football was split into rugby football (the parent sport of American football), in which handling and carrying the ball was allowed, and association football, which banned the use of the hands. The FA established the first set of rules for soccer, which at that time, was played competitively (or officially) only in private schools and universities.

Passing in American Football only started happening in the 1920s or '30s. The game evolved over time to focus on the pass and a great deal of the kicking (especially the drop-kick - still in the rules but unused) has been reduced to nothingness.

[1of3]

I hear you Milbrane. I was just trying to put across the viewpoint of most non Americans, whether they are right or wrong, but most do think the title Football, for the American game seems weird.

[AzRedCard]

I hear you Milbrane. I was just trying to put across the viewpoint of most non Americans, whether they are right or wrong, but most do think the title Football, for the American game seems weird.

It does seem weird, I just always tell people that the game itself changed, but the name did not. In the late 19th century, Ivy league schools were playing both Soccer football and Rugby Football but the game was always called "Football" in spite of which game was being played. Often when opposing "Football" clubs would meet they would decide which rules they would play, rugby or soccer. Walter Camp from Yale developed the line of scrimmage and the downs system which started to separate a different, "American" style of football, a direct descendent of Rugby, which is another beautiful game IMO. the game itself changed, the name did not.

I am a fan of ALL football. I love Liverpool FC, I love my AZ Cardinals. I love watching/playing Rugby when I can and I like to watch Aussie rules as well, where I follow the Melbourne Demons.

Football will always be for me a world sport, in spite of which set of rules you play by. Whenever I see an open field, I think football, whether it's the world game, the American game, the Australian game, it's all good to me. Football is tribal and universal. Everytime you have a ball and an open space to run in, you are connecting with other people accross the planet who are thinking alike.

That being said, since the Walter Camp version of "Football" is the one that the U.S.A. embraced we needed to differentiate which game was which. for a while people called soccer "soccer football" but eventually cut it to just "Soccer."

I know that the rest of the world likes to poke fun at Americans and our alleged ignorance of the rest of the world. To that I say "You were our fathers. If we came out screwed up, that was YOUR fault!!"







OK that last bit was a joke! Anyway whatever you call it, "Soccer" "Football" it's all beautiful to me. I know that when I speak to someone from England or Germany or anywhere in the European Union I say "Football" when I'm over here I call it "Soccer". I just hate it when I have to continually listen to people make fun of us for calling it that. And I hate having to defend why our "NFL" football is called "Football." I also hate having to explain why in American Football, pads and helmets are necessary and in Rugby they are not, they are NOT the same game! The rules of contact are VERY different in both games, but hey, that's a nother discussion for another time.


YNWA!!!! :Cards logo: :Cards logo:

[Cardinal Bath]

It does piss me off when British make fun of America (and about half the World I might add) for saying Soccer.

Personally I call the game footie or football, but SOCCER is a British word FFS. It was widely used in the UK up til the 60s/70s anyway.

The Brits exported the game around the worls, told everyone its called Soccer, then started to call it football a lot more and can't understand why the rest of the world didn't get the memo.

[1of3]

Cardinal since when does half the world call it soccer and also since when was the word used regularly here ? even upto the 1970's ? Maybe because you are in Bath which is more of a rugby town city, but I can assure you most of Britain has always called the game football.

[Cardinal Bath]

Cardinal since when does half the world call it soccer and also since when was the word used regularly here ? even upto the 1970's ? Maybe because you are in Bath which is more of a rugby town city, but I can assure you most of Britain has always called the game football.

You will find a lot of people in Asia call it soccer, same in South America & Africa too.

I can only go by what older relatives have told me about it being used in the UK, but they all say Soccer was a widely used term (and they are not from Bath). Don't forget 'soccer' is actually a nickname for the game (from Association Football), so would have been the more relaxed way of saying the name. Like 'footie' is used a lot now.

"In the United Kingdom the word "soccer" has waxed and waned in popularity. In common popular usage through the 1960s and 1970s — for example, in the titles of TV programmes, magazines, board games, books, sticker and card collections etc — the word has latterly somewhat fallen into disrepute. "
from wikipedia

[Northern Soul]

I was having a little bit of a leg pull, tho I do detest the word.

it will be good for the USA team to have the league's staus elevated so that their better players could actually stay and be guaranteed a good standard of competition. but as one pundit was saying yesterday. There is no way the NFL, NBA, Baseball or Hockey are going to allow the minority sport to cut into their TV deals. So it is in effect throwing good money at a project not likely to be a real sucess.

I was also surprised to see Football is played in the summer in the USA. That cant help surely!

[Cardinal Bath]

I was having a little bit of a leg pull, tho I do detest the word.

it will be good for the USA team to have the league's staus elevated so that their better players could actually stay and be guaranteed a good standard of competition. but as one pundit was saying yesterday. There is no way the NFL, NBA, Baseball or Hockey are going to allow the minority sport to cut into their TV deals. So it is in effect throwing good money at a project not likely to be a real sucess.

I was also surprised to see Football is played in the summer in the USA. That cant help surely!

It helps because they don't have to compete with the NFL and NBA for ratings and crowds. MLS just signed their first TV rights deal, and if things go well it will be even bigger money next time round. Hockey will probably strike again in a few years and lose even more fans.

[Tengeta]

American football is named so because you GOTTA USE YOUR FEET! No, your not kicking the ball around with it, but you have to have technique and you gotta know how to move or your useless. Feet are the first and possibly the most important thing in ANY form of football.

Thats at least my opinion on it, and it seems to make sense.

Rugby is ******* hardcore also.