The proper name of what most the world call "football" and the Americans call "soccer" is association football. The word "soccer" comes from an alteration of "assoc.", which is an abbreviation of "association football" (as opposed to Rugby or Gaelic football, etc).
The use of the term can be traced back to about 1880: it's documented as soccer or socca in 1889, and socker in 1891. Soccer seemed have become the most common phrase by 1895. Originally it was only university slang; it was habitual for English university students in the 1880s to abreviate any word and then add on 'er' or 'ers' to it (so breakfast became brekkers, or rugby became ruggers). Because this linguistic habit belonged to an elite social group is probably why the name soccer never caught on among the masses in most of the world. Perhaps it would never have caught on in the United States, except that Americans already had their own preferred 'football' game.
The origin of football / soccer can be found in every corner of geography and history. The Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Ancient Greek, Persian, Viking, and many more played a ball game long before our era. The Chinese played "football" games date as far back as 3000 years ago. The Ancient Greeks and the Roman used football games to sharpen warriors for battle. In south and Central America a game called "Tlatchi" once flourished.
But it was in England that soccer / football really begin to take shape. It all started in 1863 in England, when two football association (association football and rugby football) split off on their different course. Therefore, the first Football Association was founded in England.
On October 1963, eleven London clubs and schools sent their representatives to the Freemason's Tavern. These representatives were intent on clarifying the muddle by establishing a set of fundamental rules, acceptable to all parties, to govern the matches played amongst them. This meeting marked the birth of The Football Association. The eternal dispute concerning shin-kicking, tripping and carrying the ball was discussed thoroughly at this and consecutive meetings until eventually on 8 December the die-hard exponents of the Rugby style took their final leave. They were in the minority anyway. They wanted no part in a game that forbade tripping, shin-kicking and carrying the ball. A stage had been reached where the ideals were no longer compatible. On 8 December 1863, football and rugby finally split. Their separation became totally irreconcilable six years hence when a provision was included in the football rules forbidding any handling of the ball (not only carrying it).
Only eight years after its foundation, The Football Association already had 50 member clubs. The first football competition in the world was started in the same year - the FA Cup, which preceded the League Championship by 17 years.
International matches were being staged in Great Britain before football had hardly been heard of in Europe. The first was played in 1872 and was contested by England and Scotland. This sudden boom of organized football accompanied by staggering crowds of spectators brought with it certain problems with which other countries were not confronted until much later on. Professionalism was one of them. The first moves in this direction came in 1879, when Darwin, a small Lancashire club, twice managed to draw against the supposedly invincible Old Etonians in the FA Cup, before the famous team of London amateurs finally scraped through to win at the third attempt. Two Darwin players, the Scots John Love and Fergus Suter, are reported as being the first players ever to receive remuneration for their football talent. This practice grew rapidly and the Football Association found itself obliged to legalise professionalism as early as 1885. This development predated the formation of any national association outside of Great Britain (namely, in the Netherlands and Denmark) by exactly four years.
After the English Football Association, the next oldest are the Scottish FA (1873), the FA of Wales (1875) and the Irish FA (1880). Strictly speaking, at the time of the first international match, England had no other partner association against which to play. When Scotland played England in Glasgow on 30 November 1872, the Scottish FA did not even exist - it was not founded for another three months. The team England played that day was actually the oldest Scottish club team, Queen's Park.
The spread of football outside of England, mainly due to the British influence abroad, started slow, but it soon gathered momentum and spread rapidly to all parts of the world. The next countries to form football associations after the Netherlands and Denmark in 1889 were New Zealand (1891), Argentina (1893), Chile (1895), Switzerland, Belgium (1895), Italy (1898), Germany, Uruguay (both in 1900), Hungary (1901) and Finland (1907). When FIFA was founded in Paris in May 1904 it had seven founder members: France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain (represented by the Madrid FC), Sweden and Switzerland. The German Football Federation cabled its intention to join on the same day.
This international football community grew steadily, although it sometimes met with obstacles and setbacks. In 1912, 21 national associations were already affiliated to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). By 1925, the number had increased to 36, in 1930 - the year of the first World Cup - it was 41, in 1938, 51 and in 1950, after the interval caused by the Second World War, the number had reached 73. At present, after the 2000 Ordinary FIFA Congress, FIFA has 204 members in every part of the world.
Foot ball mean splayed with the foot... Why is then any oval ball game called football? When the foot is used rarely... Its like a minority making rules for the majority...not logical. Rugby stayed Rugby full stop. If it is league then just say so. If its Aussie rules so be it, etc... Or American "yankee" football if they want to but US Rugby is more suited for such a bastardised sport...Simple, really even for yanks...
