>>He may have invented the term, but that's the norm for English people. For instance, we similarly call Rugby Football "rugger". But as metin says, no English sports commentator or newspaper would dare call it "soccer", as it IS the original, and definitive game of football.
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>>I don't know what went wrong with the founding fathers. Did they muse one day about that game that they used to play, back in the Old Country, but couldn't recall the name or the rules, so they started afresh, with a new game, and called it football?
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>When American Football started, the rules were different. The 'forward pass' was illegal until 1906, for example, and there was a lot more kicking in the game. Drop-kicks all over the place for field-goal attempts. The shape of the ball eventually changed to make it more pointed at the ends (it used to look more like a rugby ball) to facilitate the passing, and so the drop-kick is almost never used any more.

I once saw an old B&W film about the guy who 1st threw the ball forward - back in the days when they wore leather helmets. No doubt you all know his name, enshrined in your hearts. I remember thinking sheesh - of all the things to be made famous for - AND to have a film made about your life.

The big difference tween gridiron and rugby is that it's absolutely verboten to throw the ball even a little bit forward in rugby.
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>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wreford-Brown
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>>>>>You probably already know the word soccer comes from England, not the U.S. You know, the country that invented the game.
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>>>>Frenchs claim they invented football. I never seen soccer word from any european TV's included english TV's.
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>>>>>I had not thought of team nicknames being amusing but can see how they might be from a different POV. The reason is probably that we have multiple team sports, not just one. A headline of "Chicago beats New York" wouldn't be very useful if you didn't know whether it meant football, basketball, or hockey (all in season at the moment).
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>>>>We have multiple team sports too. Basketball, volleyball, handball... Our men basketball and women volleyball teams are good. We have worlds number one volleyball women player. She is a cuba citizen.. Hehe...
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>>>>I think so reason is your people see sport as an entertainment more from us. That's a good thing. I had just made a joke...