Despite football being the most popular sport in the world, the word football refers to a completely different type of sport in America – The American Football, find out its history and why is it not called rugby
Just like the origins of the game, the word ‘football’ itself comes from the shores of Europe.
Explained Why Is American Rugby Called Football, History, Origin And Meaning
“American football doesn't use your foot so why call it football?” okay you british prick pic.twitter.com/mRz65yNG3X
— adames stan. (@adamesfan27) November 25, 2022
Why is American football called football when you THROW the ball? You don't even use your feet I don't get it
— Kae ♡ (@Kaeisnotokay) November 25, 2022
Many historians trace the origins of American football back to two popular European sports – soccer, and rugby. Notably, both of these games began as kicking games.
In order to understand how American football came into being let us first understand how the terms ‘soccer’ and ‘rugby’ came into use.
Soccer
Widely regarded as the most popular game in the world, Soccer was originally known by the term “Association Football”. It all changed when Newspapers sought a shorter phrase for the game and began referring to it as “assoc.”
They later changed this name too and shortened it to “soc”. Eventually the word ‘soc’ then grew back a bit to form the modern-day word “soccer.”
Rugby
Rugby also initially began as another form of the football game. However, back in 1823, something interesting occurred that changed the course of the kicking game forever.
During a football game, a player named William Webb Ellis, picked up the ball and ran it across the goal line instead of kicking the ball over it. People observing the game were initially stunned by his actions, but eventually agreed that it was a good idea.
The new sport was played out at the Rugby School and soon it gradually became known as rugby football. As the years passed on, the name was soon shortened to simply rugby.
Short History Of American Football
Now coming to the modern day American Football, the sport itself originates from a combination of both football and rugby. Following the popularity of both the soccer-style football and rugby-style football, the two sports eventually reached the shore of America.
Americans however, decided to combine both the two games, which later introduced forward passing in 1906. The new sport was termed as ‘Gridiron Football’. However, since Gridiron football was in reality just another form of the European football.
Moreover, it was not easy on the tongue especially during simple conversation, as such Americans slowly started calling just football for ease, despite players using their hands to play for the most part of the game.
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