Football is a modern religion that cements humanity over all these diversities. It transcends all nationalities, all languages, all castes, all creeds and all colours and takes you to a state of bliss! There is no doubt that football is the most beautiful game. When a quality game in English Premier League or the German Bundesliga or the Spanish La Liga or the French League 1 is going on, it is actually an exhilarating experience and if it is the Latin American Copa America, then it is poetry in motion.
Modern football has its origins in the streets of medieval England. Neighbouring towns would play each other in games where a heaving mass of players would struggle to drag a pig’s bladder by any means possible to markers at either end of town.
But do you know that when it comes to the word ‘Football’ different countries mean different games! Yes, when it comes to the name there is a huge conundrum about is the original name for the game the entire world is crazy about! Is it soccer, or is it football? And since we mentioned football, how can it be that it refers to two entirely different games on either sides of the Atlantic? As if this confusion was not enough the Australians, nowhere near the Atlantic, too have thrown in their brand of ‘footie’ into the ring!
In order to solve this confusion let's find out which came first - the US soccer or the UK football? To answer that question, let's reel back to the 1800s in England, where young men all over the country were playing some version of soccer. Each school tweaked the rules a little bit: some, like Rugby School, allowed the use of hands whereas others, like Eton College, restricted movements to the legs only. The world's first Football Association (football, as in American soccer) was formed in London in 1863. Its purpose was to set standard rules for the game. Aptly enough, they issued two codes for the two different versions of the game. The one you play with the use of hands was to be called "rugby football" after Rugby School, and the version with no hands was to be called "association football," after the Football Association itself.
So where did the word ‘Soccer’ come from?
Hold your breath; the word soccer was born from slang. Young British people would often use a word, shorten it, and add an -er suffix at the end. For example, breakfast became brekker, rugby became rugger, and football became footer. Naturally, association became soccer, as they also omitted the first two letters. That leaves us with a game called soccer football, which is then easily shortened to just soccer. That settles the story of the game referred to as soccer by the Americans. Most of us in India are aware of Soccer and both play and follow it but we choose to call it football and we have a domestic football league too. The other variants are not so popular in India.
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| American Football, Aussie Rules Football and Rugby |
So what is the game Americans call ‘football’?
This game is based on rugby and was pretty
widespread in the USA by the time association football (soccer) took off there.
The reason it is called football is pretty obvious: you use your foot to hit
the ball. The other reason is that it is based on rugby, which was named by the
English Football Association, "rugby football." The term American
football was first recorded in the 1870s. Up until 1974, the governing body for
soccer in the US was called the United States Soccer Football Association. You
may be surprised to know that the Americans are not alone. Canadians,
Australians, and New Zealanders use the term soccer in the same way Americans
do. But the really interesting thing is, the British also used the term soccer
until not that long ago. In fact, the two terms - soccer and football - were
almost interchangeable between 1906 and 1980. They were both used to describe
the game Americans call soccer. As Americans used the word soccer more and
more, the Brits used it less and less.
Rugby:
There are two main types of rugby: rugby league and rugby union. There is a third Rugby gaining popularity and it is called Rugby Seven. The one played for the World Cup is rugby union.
Rugby Union
Two teams play in an 80-minute match and use an oval ball to try to score more points than the other team. A team is made up of 15 players, which are divided into forwards, who tend to be the bigger and stronger players that fight for possession of the ball, and the backs, who are the faster and more agile players that usually are the ones to score tries.
Players can run and kick the ball, but can only pass it backwards. There are three ways to score:
· A team gets five points for scoring a try, where the ball is grounded over the opponent’s in-goal area.
· Two points are awarded to a team for a successful conversion. This is where a team can add further points after scoring a try by kicking the ball through the goal post.
· A team can get three points if a penalty is awarded and they successfully kick the ball through the goal post.
· Three points are also given if a team does what’s known as a drop kick, where a player drops the ball on the ground and kicks it through the goal post.
The most famous drop kick ever is probably Jonny Wilkinson’s in the final against Australia, which won England the World Cup in 2003!
The scrum is what rugby is most famous for. A scrum is usually called after a minor infringement and the game needs to be restarted. This is where the forwards of both teams interlock, a ball is fed into the scrum, and it has to be kicked back while both teams drive against each other.
An example of a great player begins and ends with Jonah Lomu, known as rugby’s Muhammad Ali, who dominated the sport when he played for New Zealand in the 1990s and early 2000s! Other prominent names are Australia’s Israel Folau, Ireland’s Johnny Sexton, and Wales’ George North. And
Rugby League
Rugby league somewhat similar to rugby union, but it has several stark contrasts. For starters, rugby league only has 13 players on the field as opposed to the 15 of rugby union. The scoring also differs between the two. Although points are awarded for the same actions, tries are only worth 4 points rather than 5 and penalty kicks are worth 2 instead of 3. The greatest difference between the two is that there are no rucks in rugby league and the team with the ball must turn it over after 6 tackles. This is greatly different from union where there can be possessions that last for 30-40 tackles (or phases), and turnovers come from the tackle contest rather than the number of tackles. Lastly, scrums are much more common in rugby league than they are in union. In rugby league, scrums are used to restart play on almost every occasion while lineouts and kicks are more common in union. Rugby league is very popular in Australia, much more popular than rugby union.
Rugby Sevens
Rugby sevens is very popular worldwide and is even included in the Summer Olympics. Sevens is the more popular version in the United States because our national team is actually one of the best in the world. Sevens is also popular in Asian countries such as Japan because their quick and elegant play style suits it very well. The first difference is that sevens only has seven players on the field at once, hence the name. These players are typically very fit and are usually backs since they play on the same size field which means they need to cover a lot more ground. Rugby sevens is extremely physically exhausting, but to counteract this, the halves are only 7 minutes long. The scoring in sevens is the same as rugby union, but a minor difference is that when kicking the conversion for a try, the player cannot use a tee. Instead, it must be a drop-goal which when you drop the ball and as it hits the ground, you kick it.
Aussie Rules Football
Referred to as Aussie rules, AFL or simply ‘the footy’, it is a fast paced, physically demanding sport. The field is enormous and roughly the size of two regular football fields. Due to the sheer amount of space, each team fields 18 players at a time, with four additional players available on the interchange bench. These extra players can be used tactically to influence certain periods of play, to replace injured players, or to keep the team fresh and rested throughout the match.
Each AFL game consists of four 20-minute periods and the umpire starts each quarter by bouncing the ball in the centre circle. Once the ball is bounced, it is considered ‘in play’ and the players can contest possession. The ball is moved around the field by a combination of kicking, handballing and running. When the ball is kicked, the players contest the ball in the air and if it is caught cleanly by a player on the same team as the kicker, it is called a mark. The player who marks the ball can then take a shot at goal or kick the ball to a teammate in a better position who, provided they also catch it cleanly for a mark, can then make the same decision.
When running with the ball, the player must bounce and catch it every 15 metres or so to avoid being penalized, or pass the ball either through kicking or handballing it to a teammate. A handball is performed by punching the ball in the desired direction.
Scoring - A player can score either a goal or a behind, with six points and one point awarded respectively. To score a goal, a player must kick the ball between the two middle posts, without it being ‘touched’ by another player. A behind is scored if the ball is kicked between the inside and outside posts, hits the two taller posts, or is carried behind or handballed across the goal line by a player, between any of the posts. The score is then presented to reflect the number of goals (six pointers) and the number of behinds (one pointers), with the combined score in brackets. For example: Collongwood 15.12 (102) defeated Footscray 10.7 (67).
With an estimated 4 billion followers – outmatching the second best sport in the list by double its fan base – football is undoubtedly the most admired game. It is no secret that football is not just a game but an emotion for many people. It is there to cheer you up when you are depressed and there to celebrate with you when you are elated. It is a game that does not know to discriminate between the rich and the poor.
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