likely. going back some time it was one of those games played between villages with ten million on each side. not really what i was getting at, however.
It was generally footy but sometimes soccer was used in the fifties and sixties. As a kid what used to confuse me was why Hull FC was Hull Football club when it was Rugby and played with the hands mainly. Going back in years was brought back to me here is Vietnam. On a Saturday & Sunday there is a footy game played opposite where I am living, which starts at 10am'ish and finishes 6pm'ish. Kids come and go, sometimes 6 aside, sometimes 10 aside. which reminded me of my childhood, when games were similar. P.S. They all play in bare feet, come in trainers but take them off, as their parents bollock them if they play in them.
i've been looking on the archive.org website to see if i could find any early references to the word soccer. fyi, i couldn't. not yet, anyway. i did find some texts which i thought others might find interesting, so i'm adding links here. this is a book by c.w.alcock from 1906 about the early days of association football, including its formation, with much detail and references to a chap called morley. one oddity is that on 1st jan 1868 there were 28 members of the football association, including hull college (p15). there is mention of the origins of football going back to greek and roman times. https://archive.org/stream/footballassocia00alcogoog#page/n5/mode/2up second is a short book from 1879 - more of a pamphlet - about the formation of the dominion football association in canada and how the game spread over there. also some ancient history of the game. https://archive.org/stream/cihm_10172#page/n3/mode/2up/search/soccer a 1902 article by c.b.fry about the teams that have won the fa cup. https://archive.org/stream/TeamsThatHaveWonTheAssociationCup#page/n0/mode/2up nuttalls standard dictionary of english language from 1800 showing a definition for football. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet...ionary-Of-English-Language#page/n283/mode/2up this is the earliest book i can find with soccer in its title. it's a 1920s usa reprint of a british book with chapters written by various star players, etc, including steve bloomer and alf common, explaining how to play in various positions. the british title appears to have been the same. for those with more divergent interests, page 13 includes a section on fisting. this book is well worth a look if only for its silly illustrative photographs. readers will enjoy contrasting page 44's "finish of a corner kick from left wing" with page 48's "finish of a corner kick from right wing". "an 'overhead' fly kick" on page 28 is a sight sadly rare in modern football. https://archive.org/stream/howtoplaysoccer00mcwe#page/n0/mode/2up just found a slightly earlier one, but it is the usfa's guide book for the 1918-19 season. https://archive.org/stream/spaldingsofficia03coch#page/n3/mode/2up but wait! here's the one for 1910. https://archive.org/details/spaldingsofficia00coch
Football was sometimes referred to as soccer because of the chap called Morley (our Ebenezer Cobb Morley), father of the Football Association, so 'soccer' should not be offensive to anyone from Hull.
As you say it derives from the phrase 'Association football' It is in fact cognate with the abbreviation of that to 'Assoc. football' Linguistically, it's a strange word because the pronunciation changes from a soft to 'c' in the original to a hard 'ck' sound in the abbreviated word which gives us the term 'sock-er'. As you can tell, cold winter nights just fly by in my household
I was brought up in the 50s Football and soccer were common, Rugby was rugger but that was the poncey union type not the proper Rugby League
So how do you explain the pictures posted by Charon and Leon, with both Subbuteo and sticker books using the word 'soccer'?
it even features in Oasis' B-side 'Round are way' "The game is kicking off in around the park It's twenty five a side and before it's dark There's gonna be a loser And you know the next goal wins"
The next goal wins rule was use last week in my grandson's football training session despite the fact that his side were leading 5-3. They lost! I was born in 1955 and lived on Newland Avenue. We called the game both footy and soccer. When I taught I had to stop a game that hasn't been mentioned on here - Beat the Goalie. One kid was in goal. The rest tried to score. If he let one in he was beaten up by the rest of the players and replaced by another victim! Surprisingly there was no shortage of keepers who all thought they'd be heroes for keeping everyone out.
