The Real Reason That Yanks Call Football Soccer

A recent piece of research by the University of Michigan has unearthed some worrying news about the beautiful game. For years us Brits have been increasingly more frustrated every time that an American calls our beloved football ‘soccer,’ yet it appears that it is indeed, all our fault.

We took the greatest game in the World to the United States in the early 1800’s, various British universities headed over to the States with different versions of the game. As the years went on the versions  were separated into rugby and when the Football Association was formed in 1863 with the new Cambridge rules, the other version became football.

Previously Brits had called American football, gridiron and throughout the early 1800’s this soon became known as football, as a result of this name change, the Brits began calling the real game of football soccer. If you prefer American football buy some football equipment and take to the field.

The professor behind the study Stefan Szymanski concluded that for many years in Britain the terms soccer and football were one and the same and the only real reason that soccer ceased to exist as much in Britain was as a result of its American connotations. Szymanski went on to say:

“Since 1980 the usage of the word ‘soccer’ has declined in British publications, and where it is used, it usually refers to an American context. This decline seems to be a reaction against the increased usage in the US which seems to be associated with the highpoint of the NASL around 1980.”

So there you have it, the next time you hear a yank mention the term soccer and you start getting pissed off, just remember that it was us here from good old Blighty that you have to blame!

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