explain this to me ?

[bayman]

there has been an all out assault to get people to say football & not soccer which is fair enough but i have a couple of points first i believe we're not the only country to say soccer i believe at least the usa & ireland do but my main point is if we have to call it football because its better than saying soccer why is the team still called 'the socceroos' ? just of the top of my head the dingoes, the wombats or even the platypus' what do you experts think ?

[MagicKiwi]

I can speak for the Shakey Isles and it's soccer there.

I have been to a few countries and agree it's soccer in the U.S., it's definitely soccer in Wales and don't particularly remember what they called it in England and I lived there. The "game"?

Who's assaulting you to call it football bayman?

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

name change could be on the way very soon, there are not to many other nation teams that are known by a nickname more so than their country's name.

[therisingblues]

I think it should be called soccer, as it is definitely not the number one code of football in Australia, and it is a specific term, which saves having to explain which code you are talking about. When I was in Australia I generally found that the only people who complained about it being called soccer were Poms and people who have a problem with Aussie rules being more popular than soccer anyway. Who wants to go along with what that bunch of saps have to say?
P.S, not all Poms are saps, just ones that complain all the time.

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

I think it should be called soccer, as it is definitely not the number one code of football in Australia, and it is a specific term, which saves having to explain which code you are talking about. When I was in Australia I generally found that the only people who complained about it being called soccer were Poms and people who have a problem with Aussie rules being more popular than soccer anyway. Who wants to go along with what that bunch of saps have to say?
P.S, not all Poms are saps, just ones that complain all the time.

never know, the round ball could be the number 1 football code in Australia in a few years.

[Ian]

never know, the round ball could be the number 1 football code in Australia in a few years.

That would be a sad day for Australian sport.


My son plays in the the Eagles zone primary school comp. During the last season I heard that in the Eagles zone, player/team participation has increased dramatically, and SOCCER (not football) participation in the same area has declined, but apparantly this is the only area in Metro Adelaide that this is the case.

I hope some of the other metro zones show the same increase as the Eagles, unfortunatly, none of the increased participation at my sons school can be attributed to the school or the Eagles, it's all parent involvement that has seen our school go from no teams, to 1 x year 3/4 and 1 x year 4/5, to this year having 2 x year 3/4 teams, 1 x year 4/5 team, and 1 x year 6/7 team. Although soccer is still strong at the school, numbers have declined while footy is prospering.

I grew up in a country area with no soccer, and most boys played footy, most of us believed soccer was for "poofs", my thoughts have not changed all that much in the last 25 years, and the day soccer becomes number one will be a devestating one for me.

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

will be a great day for people that hate afl like me.

[Ian]

will be a great day for people that hate afl like me.

It would hurt leagues like the SANFL, and Amatuers more than the GayFL

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

i dont think it overly would, the SANFL is already very small, becoming the number one Football code would be more on the national level, the afl could get alot smaller than it is now, but i dont think the SANFL overly would.

[Ian]

i dont think it overly would, the SANFL is already very small, becoming the number one Football code would be more on the national level, the afl could get alot smaller than it is now, but i dont think the SANFL overly would.

Too many kids playing "kick a netball around" would mean less playing footy at school level, less going on to play club footy and less progressing through to SANFL level. The standard of all comps would fall.
The AFL would still recruit the same number of players, taking away the best players, and depleting an even lower standard of competition even further.
Yes the AFL would have less to take from, but that would leave even less for us.

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

the way i see it, is the kids with a natural talent for aussie rules will still find their way though to play it, look at people like Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka, they had talent and managed to find their way to the sport they are good at, even though the game isnt overly popular where they are from.
the standard will drop but not overly too much i dont think, there will still be plenty of people playing aussie rules, just less with not as much talent.

[Wedgie]

This forum will always be for "soccer".
Football is the game where you need to use your foot to kick a goal.
Soccer is the game where you can use your knee, your hip, your chest, your head, your ears, your nose, your dick, your balls, your arse, an ingrown hair on your back, hell even in Maradona's case your hand, to get a goal.

Leave the Aussie team as the Soceroos and get FA to change their name back to what it should be.