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The name “football” is used by all four major football codes in this country for a very good reason – they all play it.
The word “soccer” is a 19th century Fleet Street newspaper abbreviation of “Assoc” for Association Football results; to distinguish them from the results of “Rugby” Football from which the round-ball code broke away in 1863.
Divided by the vicious English class (caste) system, upper-class boys at the best schools money could buy quickly nicknamed the two codes “rugger” and “soccer”. Working-class boys who worked in factories and never went to fancy schools didn’t know much about codes or fancy names but they knew they were not rugger buggers.
They called the game they played in the streets and the factory yards that were furthermost from heaven, football.
The Rugby Rules were codified in 1845. The Aussie Rules were codified in 1859. The Assoc Rules were codified in 1863 when the Football Association was formed to play – you guessed it – Association Football.
So let’s stop all this flipping nonsense about who has the exclusive rights to use the name football in this country. Let’s call a spade a spade and association football by its proper name.
This will require Sydney FC (and the rest of pretenders out there) to acquire the correct post-nominal of Sydney AFC like many English clubs including Sunderland AFC and Hull City AFC do in the English Premier League.
The A-League can stay the A-League out of deference to the many 12-steppers out there in Alcoholics Anonymous who are already in a league of their own. The “A” in A-League would henceforth stand for Association rather than Australia.
The Socceroos can stay the Socceroos because their name has long reflected the round-ball code’s origins in association football.
Not so the Football Federation of Australia which incorrectly purports to represent the AFL, ARU and ARL as well as soccer in this country. This should be an easy case for the ACCC to determine.
To avoid any possible confusion with the well-respected Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan, may I humbly suggest the so-called FFA (previously known as the Australian Soccer Federation) change its name to the Association Football Association of Australia (AFAA) where its new nickname will be simply Arthur.
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