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 The
term "soccer" came into use in England during the
1880's by university men from Oxford and Cambridge.
The use of "association football" as distinct from
"rugby football" was already in practice and
"soccer" became a colloquialism formed by extending
the second syllable of "association". Today it
remains a primarily journalistic or conversational
term in Britain and throughout the Commonwealth, but
in the United States, Canada and Australia its use
is the rule.
In its early days soccer in the United States was
known as football and when the national governing
body of soccer in the United States was formed in
1913, it was known as "The United States of America
Football Association." In later years that
gave way to "The United States Soccer Football
Association" (USSFA) and then to day's "United
States Soccer Federation." Many of the state
associations in the U.S. contained "football" in
their title when they were formed in the early years
of the century.
In Australia the national team is known as the "Socceroos",
while one of the world's best known soccer magazines
"World Soccer" is published in England. Consequently
soccer is not a term unique to the United States as many
people seem to think.
History by Colin
Colin Jose, who is North
America's preeminent soccer historian gives you an insight of
soccer history that is not known by the average soccer fan.
Colin has been researching soccer for over 40 years and has a
real passion for the history of ' The Beautiful Game'.
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