USA and the World Cup

[Peebo]

Some interesting US TV viewing figures for the World Cup so far.

 

• The first five games acheived viewing figures double that of Germany 2006
  
• The viewing figure for England vs USA (17 million) was higher than each of the 1st four NBA finals games (which were all also records), and all of the games in the NHL finals
  
• Millions are watching the games through ESPN's website
  

 

Even more impressive when considering the timing of the games over here (and the fact viewers have to put up with Ally McCoist). For example, the early kick-offs of the moment start at 4.30am on the West Coast. Here in Houston, quite a few boozers have actually been opening at 6.30am every single day for the first game. I was in a pub (albeit a British pub) 5 hours before kick off for the Engerlund game, and you could barely move inside it even then. At my work, the games are on in the kitchen, and there is usually a small crowd in there for most games.

 

While there have been loads of people playing football over here for years, it's never really been box-office. Maybe they are finally getting it...

[Sydney]

I have a lot of American colleagues - and although they love sport they hate football (especially the "anglo-americans").

 

They think it is a game for "kids, girls and mexicans" - but I think they see it as a threat to their way of life, as one day it will dominate and their sports will continue their slide into insignificance.

 

Interestingly the attitude in Australia from the same "anglo-aussies" is that rugby league/AFL is vastly superior and that football is a game for "sheilas, wogs and poofters".

 

The viewing figures in Oz will probably show that attitude is dying out as well.

[Mysterion]

It's about time. Is there not some statistic out there that suggested more people play "Soccer" than any other sport in America ?

 

In terms of American sports - i think people want easy to understand games and that in some ways the stop start nature (and stupid amount of ad breaks) of most American sports gives those with short attention spans the option to "tune out."

 

With fitba - it's 45mins with no breaks. You're drawn into the game and not presented with many opportunities to "tune out" due to all the adverts/timeouts n the like.

 

 

One day... maybe in my life time - it'll be called Football in America, and American Football will be called "Padded Rugby" or something.

[Eckauskas]

Any American who slates our game is just bitter at the fact no-one outside of the states takes Baseball or American Handegg seriously.

 

Much like your average rugby fan, they're just annoyed that football will always be more important than their own pale attempts.

[The Treasurer]

Some interesting US TV viewing figures for the World Cup so far.

 

• The first five games acheived viewing figures double that of Germany 2006
• The viewing figure for England vs USA (17 million) was higher than each of the 1st four NBA finals games (which were all also records), and all of the games in the NHL finals
• Millions are watching the games through ESPN's website

 

Even more impressive when considering the timing of the games over here (and the fact viewers have to put up with Ally McCoist). For example, the early kick-offs of the moment start at 4.30am on the West Coast. Here in Houston, quite a few boozers have actually been opening at 6.30am every single day for the first game. I was in a pub (albeit a British pub) 5 hours before kick off for the Engerlund game, and you could barely move inside it even then. At my work, the games are on in the kitchen, and there is usually a small crowd in there for most games.

 

While there have been loads of people playing football over here for years, it's never really been box-office. Maybe they are finally getting it...

 

Sounds more like people using the World Cup as an excuse for an early morning sesh.

[Eckauskas]

It's about time. Is there not some statistic out there that suggested more people play "Soccer" than any other sport in America ?

 

In terms of American sports - i think people want easy to understand games and that in some ways the stop start nature (and stupid amount of ad breaks) of most American sports gives those with short attention spans the option to "tune out."

 

With fitba - it's 45mins with no breaks. You're drawn into the game and not presented with many opportunities to "tune out" due to all the adverts/timeouts n the like.

 

 

One day... maybe in my life time - it'll be called Football in America, and American Football will be called "Padded Rugby" or something.

 

 

Clue's in the name, like.

[Sterling Archer]

It's about time. Is there not some statistic out there that suggested more people play "Soccer" than any other sport in America ?

 

In terms of American sports - i think people want easy to understand games and that in some ways the stop start nature (and stupid amount of ad breaks) of most American sports gives those with short attention spans the option to "tune out."

 

With fitba - it's 45mins with no breaks. You're drawn into the game and not presented with many opportunities to "tune out" due to all the adverts/timeouts n the like.

 

 

One day... maybe in my life time - it'll be called Football in America, and American Football will be called "Padded Rugby" or something.

 

Your first point. I think any sport can be simple though, American football is moving from one end of a field to another in 10 yard slots. Baseball is hitting a ball out a park, Basketball is throwing a ball in a hoop and football is kicking a ball in a goal. All sports can also be more complex, offside, foul throws etc.

 

Totally agree with you on the second point although I think that the effect that has on TV networks is more of a problem than the fans not being able to stay interested for 45 mins. I guess it's just about traditions though, certain countries have grown up with certain sports and it takes a long time for these things to change.

[Wotta Lad]

Some interesting US TV viewing figures for the World Cup so far.

 

• The first five games acheived viewing figures double that of Germany 2006
  
• The viewing figure for England vs USA (17 million) was higher than each of the 1st four NBA finals games (which were all also records), and all of the games in the NHL finals
  
• Millions are watching the games through ESPN's website
  

 

Even more impressive when considering the timing of the games over here (and the fact viewers have to put up with Ally McCoist). For example, the early kick-offs of the moment start at 4.30am on the West Coast. Here in Houston, quite a few boozers have actually been opening at 6.30am every single day for the first game. I was in a pub (albeit a British pub) 5 hours before kick off for the Engerlund game, and you could barely move inside it even then. At my work, the games are on in the kitchen, and there is usually a small crowd in there for most games.

 

While there have been loads of people playing football over here for years, it's never really been box-office. Maybe they are finally getting it...

You know those ratings are flawed! They don't take into account houses with more than one television set.. and.. other things of that nature...

[Sterling Archer]

 

Clue's in the name, like.

 

I'm confused?

 

football.bmp

[Eckauskas]

I'm confused?

 

The guy's on about football being used by it's proper name in the US.

 

I was making an observation about how downright idiotic it is that they actually call a game that's closer to rugby, football.

[Sterling Archer]

The guy's on about football being used by it's proper name in the US.

 

I was making an observation about how downright idiotic it is that they actually call a game that's closer to rugby, football.

 

I understand and partly agree. I was being pedantic. I wonder why it's called that? Isn't rugby often referred to as rugby football? Or am I totally imagining that?

[Eckauskas]

I understand and partly agree. I was being pedantic. I wonder why it's called that? Isn't rugby often referred to as rugby football? Or am I totally imagining that?

 

AFAIK, rugby is technically rugby football, as it was basically an adapted way of playing football.

 

I genuinely can't see any similarities between football and handegg, though.

[Big ChipButty]

I understand and partly agree. I was being pedantic. I wonder why it's called that? Isn't rugby often referred to as rugby football? Or am I totally imagining that?

 

 

It's called rugby football because it was first palyed at an English public school called Rugby, when some guy picked up the ball and ran with it.

[Prince Buaben]

I understand and partly agree. I was being pedantic. I wonder why it's called that? Isn't rugby often referred to as rugby football? Or am I totally imagining that?

 

Correct. For Rugby Football Union(RFU)

[The Old Tolbooth]

Football (sorry Eck ) is the beautiful game and globally effects peoples from all walks of life from all countries, it touches the very hearts of those on the streets of the most desolate areas on the planet (Leith), to the more upper class regions of countries and cities (Gorgie), and brings with it a general feel good factor that no other sport on the planet can even dream of matching.

 

American Football, (handegg) is universally liked by erm, umm, Americans!

 

There really is no comparison

[Groot]

It's called rugby football because it was first palyed at an English public school called Rugby, when some guy picked up the ball and ran with it.

 

 

feckin public schoolboys, ruin everything

[Eckauskas]

I'm not liking the use of the word 'soccer' in here.

 

I sincerely hope there are infractions being passed out over this.

[King of the North]

feckin public schoolboys, ruin everything

 

 

Too right. If only the ref at rugby school had done his job and simply sent William Webb Ellis off for deliberate handball.

 

Then perhaps we wouldn't have to put up with scores of inbred drunken Welshmen descending on Edinburgh once every two years, or English yahoos trying to stuff oval balls up each others bum or playing the biscuit game in the showers before prep.

 

Nor, for that matter, would we have to stomach Brian Moore, Jeremy Guscott or Lawrence fecking Dallaglio.

 

Unless you are Welsh, a public schoolboy, then rugby is a game for people not good enough to get in the football team at school. FACT

[Groot]

Too right. If only the ref at rugby school had done his job and simply sent William Webb Ellis off for deliberate handball.

 

Then perhaps we wouldn't have to put up with scores of inbred drunken Welshmen descending on Edinburgh once every two years, or English yahoos trying to stuff oval balls up each others bum or playing the biscuit game in the showers before prep.

 

Nor, for that matter, would we have to stomach Brian Moore, Jeremy Guscott or Lawrence fecking Dallaglio.

 

Unless you are Welsh, a public schoolboy, then rugby is a game for people not good enough to get in the football team at school. FACT

 

 

[The Old Tolbooth]

I'm not liking the use of the word 'soccer' in here.

 

I sincerely hope there are infractions being passed out over this.

Ha ha, changed that just for you Eck

[The Old Tolbooth]

Too right. If only the ref at rugby school had done his job and simply sent William Webb Ellis off for deliberate handball.

 

Then perhaps we wouldn't have to put up with scores of inbred drunken Welshmen descending on Edinburgh once every two years, or English yahoos trying to stuff oval balls up each others bum or playing the biscuit game in the showers before prep.

 

Nor, for that matter, would we have to stomach Brian Moore, Jeremy Guscott or Lawrence fecking Dallaglio.

 

Unless you are Welsh, a public schoolboy, then rugby is a game for people not good enough to get in the football team at school. FACT

Love it

 

 

[teepee]

Too right. If only the ref at rugby school had done his job and simply sent William Webb Ellis off for deliberate handball.

 

Then perhaps we wouldn't have to put up with scores of inbred drunken Welshmen descending on Edinburgh once every two years, or English yahoos trying to stuff oval balls up each others bum or playing the biscuit game in the showers before prep.

 

Nor, for that matter, would we have to stomach Brian Moore, Jeremy Guscott or Lawrence fecking Dallaglio.

 

Unless you are Welsh, a public schoolboy, then rugby is a game for people not good enough to get in the football team at school. FACT

 

 

This is something of an urban legend, the story of webb ellis wasn't first told until 4 years after he died and tells a story of something that apparently happened 50 years earlier.

 

Rugby was played under many forms for about 200 odd years before the first rules were actually written down in 1845 and the story of webb ellis only appeared in 1876...so not his fault

[topcat]

It's called rugby football because it was first played at an English public school called Rugby, when some guy picked up the ball and ran with it.

 

The bit about Rugby school is correct but whe story of Webb Ellis picking up the ball and running with it is generally thought to be a myth by most rugby historians.

 

There were lots of wierd and wonderfull games called "football" by the victorian era. Each school would have it's own house rules as would different villages and towns. Most allowed the use of hands to some extent

 

There are a few remaining survivors like the one in Orkney where you have to get the ball to the other end of town by any means necessary or the bizarre Eton Field game where you're not allowed to handle the ball but bizarrely there are scrums. Despite not being technically called "Football" this is the only surviving such game where nobody is allowed to handle the ball. Even FIFAs version has throw ins and goalkeepers.

 

Orcadians are on an Island and Etonian are almost as isolated in their own way but for the rest of the world playing against new opponents would require the captains to first agree what rules the game would be played under, just as if your playing football in the park you have to agree how far apart the 'goalposts' should be placed

 

As travel made national competition possible there was a need to standardise the rules and the myriad of different variations were boiled down to the handfull we have today

 

Even by the time published standard rules were available there were some football clubs in Edinburgh who would play by Rugby rules one week and Association rules the next.

[Spellczech]

It's all those bloody illegals innit?

[FireHearts98]

The sport is growing very fast here, more than most hardcore 'American' sports fans would like to admit, our league, average attendance last season was 16,000, which catching up to our other sports, with cities like Seattle and Philadelphia now too attendances are getting bigger and bigger, Seattle draw around 30,000 to 36,000 fans a game and Philadelphia in their first year has had more 20,000 at their home games as well.

 

MLS average attendance 2009- 16,000

NHL Attendance-17,000

NBA Attendance-17,100

MLB Attendance-28,600

[Peebo]

The sport is growing very fast here, more than most hardcore 'American' sports fans would like to admit, our league, average attendance last season was 16,000, which catching up to our other sports, with cities like Seattle and Philadelphia now too attendances are getting bigger and bigger, Seattle draw around 30,000 to 36,000 fans a game and Philadelphia in their first year has had more 20,000 at their home games as well.

 

MLS average attendance 2009- 16,000

NHL Attendance-17,000

NBA Attendance-17,100

MLB Attendance-28,600

 

You forgot to mention college "football" which, for some reason I still can't quite grasp, draws crowds which must average something like, I dunno, 3.5 million a game...

[Sterling Archer]

You forgot to mention college "football" which, for some reason I still can't quite grasp, draws crowds which must average something like, I dunno, 3.5 million a game...

 

Ann Anbor, Michigan holds 106,000 and sells out every year (I always forget what the big rivalry there is though). That's a college football game and it outsells any "soccer" game in the world.

 

Scary.

[Boomstick]

Ann Anbor, Michigan holds 106,000 and sells out every year (I always forget what the big rivalry there is though). That's a college football game and it outsells any "soccer" game in the world.

 

Scary.

 

Nittany Lions sell out their massive stadium too.

[Sterling Archer]

Nittany Lions sell out their massive stadium too.

 

They just don't do school/university spirit over here like they do in the states.

[Toggie88]

American Football is a fantastic sport. It is a very tactical game but easy to follow once you know how. For the record, it's called football because the ball is a ft long.

 

Football (Soccer)is growing in popularity in the States but still lacks behind the big US Sports (Football, Basketball, Hockey and Baseball) - it'll be a good few years until it competes with them.

[Peebo]

Ann Anbor, Michigan holds 106,000 and sells out every year (I always forget what the big rivalry there is though). That's a college football game and it outsells any "soccer" game in the world.

 

Scary.

 

Yes, 100,000+ sell outs are the norm for quite a few teams. And college football absolutely dominates the TV schedules every Saturday during the season. I detest it. The vast, vast majority of games are like shooting fish in a barrel for the big teams. They hand pick their opponents, effectively. The likes of the Longhorns or Crimson Tide only play about 2, possibly 3, games a year that they have any realistic chance of losing.

[Sterling Archer]

American Football is a fantastic sport. It is a very tactical game but easy to follow once you know how. For the record, it's called football because the ball is a ft long.

 

Football (Soccer)is growing in popularity in the States but still lacks behind the big US Sports (Football, Basketball, Hockey and Baseball) - it'll be a good few years until it competes with them.

 

Thanks

 

People who think american football is too complex are just not clever enough to understand it. The strategy involved is fascinating.

[Peebo]

For the record, it's called football because the ball is a ft long.

 

First time I have ever heard that. And I can't help but feel that's because you are talking nonsense. Maybe not, though...

[Sterling Archer]

The answer from the innernets:

 

Some might say, simply, "because they kick the football." But the real story is deeper. The origin of Gridiron (American football) is in the history of the world's most popular sport: Football (soccer). When soccer -- more universally known as "football" (which of course makes sense because football players use their feet) -- players decided to change their centuries-old game with restrictions such as the no-use-of- hand rules, people who disliked this broke away to create rugby. In the states we have created our own version of the game under the same old name "football" (Gridiron) with more of a rugby style, the whole time forgetting why we call it that. Here are other answers: * Gridiron (American football) is a derivative of rugby football, and while the feet are used more often in rugby than on the gridiron, much of the game is still played by handling the ball. Both variations are still considered football. * North America style Gridiron (American football) didn't used to allow the "forward pass" and much more of the play involved foot work, such as the "drop kick" and the running punt kick. In the first rules, only the " side pass" was allowed, as long as the two players were side by side, with no forward motion of the ball, similar to rugby rules. The Canadian Football League ( CFL ) still allows a drop kick to score a field goal, and also has a thing called a "rouge" when the kicker is able to kick the ball through the end zone, so it lands out of play. Both the NFL and the CFL still have the drop-kick available as a weapon - on the point-after-touchdown, or from the field for 3 points. The "rouge" is worth a single point here in Canada. == Answer == The global name for football is of course football. The global name for american football is Gridiron. Gridiron is a code of handball and not football. Football is a sport where players control the ball with their feet and only football does this. Gridiron is where hands are used to control a ball. Football has been played for many centuries but had no official rules. The British created rules for football in 1848. After that many codes of handball arose including rugger and gridiron, none of which are codes of football. Football, known only in Canada and the USA as soccer (a nickname termed by the English), is the worlds most popular sport. There are many reasons for this. In football you mainly use your feet, chest and head thus making the ball always open and so the game is fast paced and demands intelligence and a vast array of techniques. In football size is not as important as in Basketball, Gridiron or rugby, so anyone with skill can become good at it. Rich and poor alike can play the game as it requires little equipment at a basic level, although at the top level it is the richest sport on earth by some way. Though Gridiron in US is largely made up of people from poor areas as the NFL is predominantly contested by blacks from downtrodden parts, slums, ghettos, given scholarships to play. Baseball too is played by many poor in the likes of Cuba, Dominican Republic. Football is watched and played by more than any other sport globally mainly due to the excitement of hoping to see a goal and the importance each goal scored has on the flow of the match. Its 90 minutes non stop action. Gridiron on the otherhand is constant stop start and spread out up to a 4 hour marathon....in that period the average actual playing time of an NFL Gridiron game is 12 minutes which is one of endless reasons why its never been accepted outside US. Easy scoring is another reason as teams get the entire width of the pitch and also don't even have to touch the ball down...also get multiple attempts to do so. Each year Football becomes more popular than the year before, no other sports have ever been able to achieve this over such a long period of time. Gridiron on the other hand is played almost entirely by Americans as every attempt made to spread the game has largely failed with leagues folding due to zero fan interest..examples being the "World League"..and more recently "NFL Europe" as one report summed it up by stating "not only did most Europeans not know it collapsed, they didn't even know it existed". Or because the ball is about a foot long. == Answer == It's a reflection of American football's origins. The first football type of game that colleges played in North America was almost identical to what became soccer: You scored by kicking a goal. But every school had its own rules. That was true even over in England, before the Football Association was created to establish a standard set of rules. Over here in the USA, we had no such governing body, so the schools took it upon themselves to sit down and draw up their own set of rules that everyone could agree on.

 

In an age when overseas communications took weeks, if not months, Americans lived in relative isolation from their football counterparts in Europe and thus weren't able to easily keep tabs on how the game was progressing there. So Americans (and Canadians) took it upon themselves to sort things out on their own and draw up a set of rules that appealed to them. Although most schools in North America were playing some variety of soccer, others, including Harvard, preferred a game that was more like rugby. When the schools first met to discuss a set of rules, Harvard pressed to base their common rules on the English rugby code, and they prevailed. From that point on, the American version of football began to develop out of rugby instead of soccer.

The same process of codifying rules had happened in England, too: After the Football Association was formed, some clubs disagreed over which rules to use -- primarily, the rule that governed the use of hands in the game. Those who favored prohibiting the hands formed the Football Association, and those who wanted to use the hands as part of the game eventually went on to form the first Rugby Football Union.

 

The American game could just as easily have been called American rugby, but since everyone was already calling it "football," the name stuck. Besides, in the early days, the American game was much more kicking-oriented than it is now. When there was no forward pass and kicks could be taken from anywhere on the field, teams would frequently dropkick to try to score, or they'd use a deep punt as a defensive strategy, if their running game was getting bogged down. It was only when the forward pass was legalized and kicks were limited to those taken from behind the line of scrimmage that the feet began to play a less prominent role in the American game. But again, everyone already called the game football, so there was no reason to change it.

 

Just keep in mind that what we call "rugby" is actually "rugby football," yet rugby players handle the ball as much as they kick it. What most of the world calls simply "football" is technically "association football," from the name of its founding and governing body. When soccer and rugby split, the association game simply adopted "football" as its name, while rugby football focused on the first part of its name. That doesn't mean one game is football while the other isn't. They're still both football games with a shared origin.

What's more, since the soccer/rugby split, other football-related games have evolved to emphasize other parts of the body to propel the ball. In fact, of the world's six major football codes -- soccer, rugby league, rugby union, Australian rules football, American (gridiron) football, and Gaelic football -- soccer is the only one that prohibits use of the hands. And they all employ kicking strategies to a greater or lesser extent.

[Sterling Archer]

The answer from the innernets:

 

Some might say, simply, "because they kick the football." But the real story is deeper. The origin of Gridiron (American football) is in the history of the world's most popular sport: Football (soccer). When soccer -- more universally known as "football" (which of course makes sense because football players use their feet) -- players decided to change their centuries-old game with restrictions such as the no-use-of- hand rules, people who disliked this broke away to create rugby. In the states we have created our own version of the game under the same old name "football" (Gridiron) with more of a rugby style, the whole time forgetting why we call it that. Here are other answers: * Gridiron (American football) is a derivative of rugby football, and while the feet are used more often in rugby than on the gridiron, much of the game is still played by handling the ball. Both variations are still considered football. * North America style Gridiron (American football) didn't used to allow the "forward pass" and much more of the play involved foot work, such as the "drop kick" and the running punt kick. In the first rules, only the " side pass" was allowed, as long as the two players were side by side, with no forward motion of the ball, similar to rugby rules. The Canadian Football League ( CFL ) still allows a drop kick to score a field goal, and also has a thing called a "rouge" when the kicker is able to kick the ball through the end zone, so it lands out of play. Both the NFL and the CFL still have the drop-kick available as a weapon - on the point-after-touchdown, or from the field for 3 points. The "rouge" is worth a single point here in Canada. == Answer == The global name for football is of course football. The global name for american football is Gridiron. Gridiron is a code of handball and not football. Football is a sport where players control the ball with their feet and only football does this. Gridiron is where hands are used to control a ball. Football has been played for many centuries but had no official rules. The British created rules for football in 1848. After that many codes of handball arose including rugger and gridiron, none of which are codes of football. Football, known only in Canada and the USA as soccer (a nickname termed by the English), is the worlds most popular sport. There are many reasons for this. In football you mainly use your feet, chest and head thus making the ball always open and so the game is fast paced and demands intelligence and a vast array of techniques. In football size is not as important as in Basketball, Gridiron or rugby, so anyone with skill can become good at it. Rich and poor alike can play the game as it requires little equipment at a basic level, although at the top level it is the richest sport on earth by some way. Though Gridiron in US is largely made up of people from poor areas as the NFL is predominantly contested by blacks from downtrodden parts, slums, ghettos, given scholarships to play. Baseball too is played by many poor in the likes of Cuba, Dominican Republic. Football is watched and played by more than any other sport globally mainly due to the excitement of hoping to see a goal and the importance each goal scored has on the flow of the match. Its 90 minutes non stop action. Gridiron on the otherhand is constant stop start and spread out up to a 4 hour marathon....in that period the average actual playing time of an NFL Gridiron game is 12 minutes which is one of endless reasons why its never been accepted outside US. Easy scoring is another reason as teams get the entire width of the pitch and also don't even have to touch the ball down...also get multiple attempts to do so. Each year Football becomes more popular than the year before, no other sports have ever been able to achieve this over such a long period of time. Gridiron on the other hand is played almost entirely by Americans as every attempt made to spread the game has largely failed with leagues folding due to zero fan interest..examples being the "World League"..and more recently "NFL Europe" as one report summed it up by stating "not only did most Europeans not know it collapsed, they didn't even know it existed". Or because the ball is about a foot long. == Answer == It's a reflection of American football's origins. The first football type of game that colleges played in North America was almost identical to what became soccer: You scored by kicking a goal. But every school had its own rules. That was true even over in England, before the Football Association was created to establish a standard set of rules. Over here in the USA, we had no such governing body, so the schools took it upon themselves to sit down and draw up their own set of rules that everyone could agree on.

 

In an age when overseas communications took weeks, if not months, Americans lived in relative isolation from their football counterparts in Europe and thus weren't able to easily keep tabs on how the game was progressing there. So Americans (and Canadians) took it upon themselves to sort things out on their own and draw up a set of rules that appealed to them. Although most schools in North America were playing some variety of soccer, others, including Harvard, preferred a game that was more like rugby. When the schools first met to discuss a set of rules, Harvard pressed to base their common rules on the English rugby code, and they prevailed. From that point on, the American version of football began to develop out of rugby instead of soccer.

The same process of codifying rules had happened in England, too: After the Football Association was formed, some clubs disagreed over which rules to use -- primarily, the rule that governed the use of hands in the game. Those who favored prohibiting the hands formed the Football Association, and those who wanted to use the hands as part of the game eventually went on to form the first Rugby Football Union.

 

The American game could just as easily have been called American rugby, but since everyone was already calling it "football," the name stuck. Besides, in the early days, the American game was much more kicking-oriented than it is now. When there was no forward pass and kicks could be taken from anywhere on the field, teams would frequently dropkick to try to score, or they'd use a deep punt as a defensive strategy, if their running game was getting bogged down. It was only when the forward pass was legalized and kicks were limited to those taken from behind the line of scrimmage that the feet began to play a less prominent role in the American game. But again, everyone already called the game football, so there was no reason to change it.

 

Just keep in mind that what we call "rugby" is actually "rugby football," yet rugby players handle the ball as much as they kick it. What most of the world calls simply "football" is technically "association football," from the name of its founding and governing body. When soccer and rugby split, the association game simply adopted "football" as its name, while rugby football focused on the first part of its name. That doesn't mean one game is football while the other isn't. They're still both football games with a shared origin.

What's more, since the soccer/rugby split, other football-related games have evolved to emphasize other parts of the body to propel the ball. In fact, of the world's six major football codes -- soccer, rugby league, rugby union, Australian rules football, American (gridiron) football, and Gaelic football -- soccer is the only one that prohibits use of the hands. And they all employ kicking strategies to a greater or lesser extent.

 

"soccer (a nickname termed by the English),"

 

That's interesting.

[Hagar the Horrible]

You forgot to mention college "football" which, for some reason I still can't quite grasp, draws crowds which must average something like, I dunno, 3.5 million a game...

 

 

Wow have they invented a Seville calculator too.

 

Ice Hockey used to be the big TV thing, but since Wayne Gretski retired not so big.

 

Baseball if for Americans who are too soft to play rounders let alone Cricket. Pajama wearing clowns.

 

Also they get Soccer from "Association football" which will be huge when the AASAFLA is formed, The American All Stars Association Football League of America. quotes random American coach Chuck Wesley.

 

I hate it when Septics go "you do the Math"....Its MathSSSSSSSSSS you idiots, you don't go "my Sum don't add up". Or I am taking Mathematic at school, Its Maths its plural not singular otherwise Math would be taking one parameter and doing fekall with it. It takes one parameter and calculates against another and to create a value, hence more that one = maths, Mathematic fails the spellchecker so point proved even with an American setting. Also mathematic"SSSSSS" is also made up of Trigonometry, Geometry and Algebra again more than one. Please everybody slap an American.

 

This is just Friendly fire, so no need to be upset plus who else can see the irony of oil invading America.

 

 

Rant over!

[albishop]

"soccer (a nickname termed by the English),"

 

That's interesting.

 

I believe the term soccer came from the trend at the time to add "er" on the end of words/partial words. At the time, football was know as "Association Football", so some smart arse thought it would be cool to put "er" on the end of Soc (from Association), hence soc©er came into existence.

 

Or..it could be BS..

[TheBigO]

I like American Football (go '9ers. D-fence, D-fence, etc). It is good. I prefer real football. It is better.

 

I like the fact that footy is becoming bigger in the US. Those attendance stats are all pretty close aren't they. I would imagine there are whole lot more armchair fans of baseball, hockey and gridiron than there are for footy though and I guess it is those who you have to win over to make it really big.

 

Someone mentioned it above and I can't be assed looking it up, but I'm also pretty sure I heard that footy is the most played sport in the US. I think the thing is that a lot of girls play and most kids who play stop doing so at age 15/16 and concentrate on the US sports for college. Is that about right??

 

Also is angling not the most participated in sport in Britain or something like that? Make of that what you will...

[Heaven98]

I still find it pretty bizarre that an average of 90,000 turn up at the Coliseum here in LA for a USC college football game. Same massive figures at the Rose Bowl for UCLA.

 

It's a brilliant atmosphere though. Would recommend it to anyone that passes through here.

[Sterling Archer]

I still find it pretty bizarre that an average of 90,000 turn up at the Coliseum here in LA for a USC college football game. Same massive figures at the Rose Bowl for UCLA.

 

It's a brilliant atmosphere though. Would recommend it to anyone that passes through here.

 

There's two words you won't be hearing together for a few years

[uniwildcat38]

I like American Football (go '9ers. D-fence, D-fence, etc).

 

'9ers! '9ers!! San Francisco &^%$ing 49ers!!!

 

That's it - I'm disowning you as my cousin.

 

 

[Heaven98]

There's two words you won't be hearing together for a few years

 

USC and "Bowl"" - not going to happen for a while! The reaction here is hilarious - they all feel totally got at...despite the fact they got caught out! I thought OF fans were bitter morons but they're lightweights compared to Trojan fans.

[uniwildcat38]

I'm confused?

 

 

Typical Americans - even when there is kicking involved, they have to import someone to do it for them (if I'm not mistaken that's Australia's Ben Graham punting in that photo).

[Hagar the Horrible]

Sorry Rant not over

 

Other Things I hate:

 

1. The clock ticking down the way from 45 to 0

2. The away team quoted first...Hearts at Hibs...where are they playing? duh.

3. Its the penalty box, not the shooting zone, you can shoot from anywhere.

4. Mindless pointless stats taken from other sports, you don't need to know total yardage for players shots at goals.

5. Its the "First Half" not the first period, or Half One.

6. Its the "Second Half" not the Second period, or Half Two.

7. Whats the point of cheerleaders unless there is a large bath of mud.

8. Complaining that Janette Jackson has had one pop out, over here there would be a stadium full of fans requesting that action for the young gentlemen.

9. Half time entertainment, I was happy when they filled in the half time board and you had to buy a program to see what game A, B or C etc was. get all this to.........

10. Their one and only song, "oooooo, es, ae"

[TheBigO]

'9ers! '9ers!! San Francisco &^%$ing 49ers!!!

 

That's it - I'm disowning you as my cousin.

 

 

 

Haha, come on, I grew up watching Rice and Montana. Surely it's allowed. The red was close enough to maroon for me too!

 

You still involved in gridiron these days??

[uniwildcat38]

Haha, come on, I grew up watching Rice and Montana. Surely it's allowed. The red was close enough to maroon for me too!

 

You still involved in gridiron these days??

 

I grew up watching my Bengals getting screwed over by Rice and Montana, hence my attitude to the 49ers!

 

Actually just getting involved in gridiron again - helping out a bit with a new team trying to get off the ground here in Ballarat.

[TheBigO]

I grew up watching my Bengals getting screwed over by Rice and Montana, hence my attitude to the 49ers!

 

Actually just getting involved in gridiron again - helping out a bit with a new team trying to get off the ground here in Ballarat.

 

Cool. The Ballarat Badgers?

[willie wallace]

There's two words you won't be hearing together for a few years

 

Like your avatar mate.How do you think Tebow will do in the NFL.Really hope he can make the step up although a lot of the pundits seemed surprised when he was picked so high up in the draft.

[Sterling Archer]

 

Like your avatar mate.How do you think Tebow will do in the NFL.Really hope he can make the step up although a lot of the pundits seemed surprised when he was picked so high up in the draft.

 

I'd expect him to play on some trick plays and goal line packages this year and then be given the opportunity to win the job from Quinn next year. I expect him to be the starter in two years. I think he really lucked out landing with McDaniels who has proven to be a good QB coach and who will implement some of the Florida Spread offence up in Denver, I wouldn't expect much straight away but in a few years I think he could be a good player.

[Peebo]

I'd expect him to play on some trick plays and goal line packages this year and then be given the opportunity to win the job from Quinn next year. I expect him to be the starter in two years. I think he really lucked out landing with McDaniels who has proven to be a good QB coach and who will implement some of the Florida Spread offence up in Denver, I wouldn't expect much straight away but in a few years I think he could be a good player.

 

I hate Tebow. That is all.