Football Or Soccer?

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

What do you call the round ball code?

Intresting results in a poll running at the moment by the age on which sport shoudl be called Football.
http://theage.com.au/polls/sport/form.html

[therisingblues]

Damnit! I voted for the wrong one! Doh!

[Dog_ger]

The entire world calls it Football. Makes us look stupid on the world sporting stage if we are the only ones to call it soccer..! Time we all progressed. Time all us Aussie Rules supporters accepted the fact that this game is called football too....!

[Ian]

The entire world calls it Football.

Bullshit!

[Booney]

The entire world calls it Football.

Bullshit!

Spot on Ian,like most Australians,its Soccer.

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

The entire world calls it Football.

Bullshit!

Spot on Ian,like most Australians,its Soccer.

thats not what that age poll says, apparently most Aussies now call it Football.

[U LEGS]

Football in America is Grid Iron
Football in Ireland is Gaelic Football
Football in Australia is Australian Rules

To me Football is Football or the World Game. But I can't get the word Soccer out of my head.

[MightyEagles]

I don't care what it's called, just that Australia, Adelaide Utd and Liverpool win.

[JK]

I don't care what it's called, just that Australia, Adelaide Utd and Liverpool win.

Ditto!!

[Ian]

The entire world calls it Football.

Bullshit!

Spot on Ian,like most Australians,its Soccer.

thats not what that age poll says, apparently most Aussies now call it Football.

Most of those who answered the poll maybe, but how many of them were actually Aussies, MOST Aussies born and raised in Australia would either refer to Aussie Rules, Rugby League, or Rugby Union as Football, depending on where they grew up, there may have been a big response from English, Europeans or Asians, that would certainly alter the results, my last words on it.......


SOCCER IS SOCCER, AUSSIE RULES IS FOOTBALL

[therisingblues]

I cannot vouch for the entire world, but I can say that the USA and Japan definitely call it soccer. I agree with Ian that people who are really passinate about the issue will be voting for "Soccer" equals "Football" in the poll. Most Aussies wouldn't care about the issue so much, therefore wouldn't poll.

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

the afl was emailing all its employees and getting them to vote on that poll, so i dont think thats the issue.
maybe in australia thats what it is at the moment, but in the rest of the world thats very diffrent, and it will be here in a few years to.

[Dog_ger]

This is the closest pole i have seen on either site..?

[MagicKiwi]

The entire world calls it Football.

Not true. See the other thread on this.

[Peterxtc]

In my opinion what other folk call something is not relevant. What is correct is what is relevant. The game is called Association Football end of story. Its the dominant world code but obviously not the only one. We have Australian Rules Football (this name itself is evidence that soccer is correctly called Football otherwise the words Australian Rules would be pointless), Rugby Football (Union), Galic Football, American Football (Gridiron) etc etc. So the are lots of Football codes but only ONE Football (soccer). The game we all love (the game played in the SANFL) is Australian Rules or Aussie Rules whats wrong with that? To my mind not much unless your ego is out of control or your a very insecure person.
All the Georgie.

[David Votoupal]

Football is like art- there are many different styles of art, so there are different codes of football. No one game is better than another, each of them is different and it all depends on what you were brought up on.

The problem I, and many others, have had is that you have a hard core of Aussie Rules fans who are very hostile to other football codes, either because they're very insular and can't see beyond what they were brought up on/understand, or because they feel embracing other codes is an insult to their traditions and so forth. But let's face it, we live in a small world and we can no longer live with that sort of attitude.

I was brought up to follow soccer first, and came to embrace all the other codes. It wasn't hard for me, so why should it be hard for anyone else? I've watched all codes and enjoy them, I spent a good part of 2005 behind the goal with the Swans cheersquad, and was also behind the goal with the Green and Gold Army in the World Cup qualifier. It seems like we're living in reactionary times where anything foreign, or that people weren't brought up on or don't understand, will arouse suspicion and hostility. Not a good way to live, is it?

[Ian]

The problem I, and many others, have had is that you have a hard core of Aussie Rules fans who are very hostile to other football codes, either because they're very insular and can't see beyond what they were brought up on/understand, or because they feel embracing other codes is an insult to their traditions and so forth.

The same could be said for League or Union fans, 90% of people that I have met that live North of the Mexican border show that same hostility and misunderstanding towards Aussie Rules.

[David Votoupal]

The same could be said for League or Union fans, 90% of people that I have met that live North of the Mexican border show that same hostility and misunderstanding towards Aussie Rules.

It's true to a certain extent, League fans tend to bag Aussie Rules more than any other code because it's "alien" to them. But with time I think (and hope) that gradually breaks down.

More like people will be hostile to anything they perceive, rightly or wrongly, to be a threat to their interests. Of course, I don't think any code is a threat to another- we do have room for all of them in a sports-mad country. Just look at the UK and USA.

As a teenager I was naturally curious and wanted to learn about everything. Hence my interest in the history of sport began- that includes the SANFL and WAFL.

[MagicKiwi]

I have never heard of Rugby Union referred to as Rugby Football....

[David Votoupal]

I have never heard of Rugby Union referred to as Rugby Football....

The official name of the governing body in England is the Rugby Football Union.

The official name of the governing body of Rugby League in England is/was the Rugby Football League.