This last summer I paid a visit to a friend of mine in Berlin, Germany. The city was full of reminders: monuments and bombed out buildings reminded us of history and war, while posters at every U-Bahn or S-Bahn (subway) station reminded us that the FIFA World Cup was coming next summer.
I remember waking up at 3 a.m. during the 2002 Korea Japan World Cup and groggily settling in front of the TV to watch a good ol’ match of football (that’s soccer to all you Americans).
As a non-American, I feel it is my duty to inform many of you misguided citizens that contrary to popular belief, soccer is and always will be, the one true football.
Curious as to how the different terms for the same game came into being, I did a little research.
Soccer has been around for centuries as a playground game; however, in 1863 the Football Association was established which unified all the rules of the game. After this, the game was referred to as “association football” to distinguish it from other forms of football games.
The word soccer is actually derived from the word “association” and first appeared in 1880. However both FIFA and the Olympics use the term football for soccer and in almost all countries besides this one, football remains the name of the game. (Besides has anyone else noticed that in American football the ball is played more with the hands than the feet?)
By moving beyond matters of linguistic purity (admittedly it was the English who coined the word soccer), I must argue that the sport itself is far superior to its American counterpart.
In football, there’s no flow to the game; it’s so stop and start. In soccer the timer starts running at the beginning of a half and doesn’t stop until the whistle blows at the end.
To play soccer you don’t have to be 6-foot-3 and weigh 260 pounds to be considered a qualified player. Every player on the field needs to be skilled with the ball, while a linebacker on a football team just needs to be able to knock someone down and in theory may go their whole career without touching the ball.
I’ve heard soccer described as the gentlemen’s sport and quite frankly, I agree. This does not, however, exclude women from playing. The last time I checked there weren’t any pro football teams for women.
In talking with my roommate, she brought up a point that just could not be ignored: soccer players are just so much hotter than football players.
Regardless of the argument, there’s nothing quite like strapping on a pair of shin guards and cleats, weaving the ball across the soccer field and putting it in the net. And luckily, since I’m not as talented as I would like to be, I can live vicariously through the masters like Beckham and Ronaldo watching the “real football” in Germany next summer even, if necessary, at 3 a.m.
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