Foot + ball implies no hands. Equally a ball is a 360 degree sphere. Hence the proper name for your sport should American Rugby (still confused why this name was never used) or Hand Egg, because it is an egg shape not a sphere.
Challenging all of you to find a logical argument against this.
?
One reason is to distinguish it from soccer that is described as "football" in many areas.
Mike
Why isn't pool played in the water?
Spock (rhp)
when the game was invented, passing the ball was either uncommon or illegal. and when it became common, the shape of the ball evolved to make it easier to accurately pass
Anonymous
it is actually illegal and incurs a penalty to kick the ball in open play so as you say why is it called football, the secret is in the word "american" , a game takes nearly 4 hours yet there is less than 15 minutes live play so there is plenty of time for TV ads which seems to be the main reason for the sport, still great to watch though
Anonymous
It evolved from Foot Ball in England which in the early days had a variety of rules, then via Rugby Football. It is played on foot (not on horseback) and the foot is still used to kick the ball anyway even though most of the game involves catching and carrying it..