Why is American 'Football' called 'football'?

I don't know why it's even a sport, it's a lame attempt of rugby which is indeed a lovely sport.

I wish I could comment on a comment here... sassy's got a giant loophole in her convictions... "real" men who are braindead either beforehand or after they get repeatedly knocked over by a bunch of other "real" men while wearing protective suits all over... *sigh* stupid. Anyway... it's not really "better" or worse, it is a characteristic of the sport. In US football you may bring the whole game back to a certain minute because everyone can simply go back to the place they were thrown into the air and the ball is mostly carried around in the person's hand so its trajectory doesn't change much. In football everything is much more dynamic. As for why they don't change their opinion... I am not sure, but the refs are also a part of the game. Also, if everyone had a chance to change their opinion it would not be sports any longer because in several cases the refs would disagree on an issue and it would turn into a "law" war but the game needs to go on.

The term Football is very old and probably refers to the fact that sport was played on foot, unlike other sports like Polo or Fox Hunting. Soccer comes from an English term actually, Association Football. This was commonly referred to as Assoc and people who played it were referred to as soccers. This is all because back in the day there were no pro sports therefore no official rules for any sport. As leagues started then the different leagues set out rules. Association Football outline the rules that are now used in Soccer, the Rugby Football Union made rugby. These were both originally called football. Gridiron Football is the proper name for American Football and it was derived from Rugby hence the similar scoring and gameplay, Gaelic Football (which I play) has its own rules in Ireland, and Aussie Rules Football in Australia. As a general rule whatever the most popular sport of this type is in a given country is referred to as Football. They call it Soccer in Ireland because Gaelic Football is the national sport and that is called Football, same thing goes for Gridiron/American Football. I think it is funny that you often find the most irrational arguments made about these sports by people who don't watch the other one. I love American Football, I play Gaelic Football, and I enjoy Soccer/Football. American Football is incredibly complicated, its a miniature war there are almost as many supporting coaches and staff as there are players. For people who understand all of the formations and play designs it is really fun to watch. Likewise to people who don't watch soccer it looks like people just kicking the ball around and rarely taking the offensive. One thing I can't defend about soccer is that if rugby/gaelic football/american football player tried to draw fouls and lay on the ground writhing in pain they would be seen as a huge pussy. Drawing fouls is the single biggest reason Americans in general hate soccer, it looks like a bunch of ******* clutching their heads when they got kicked in the shins.

To the moron Denz, American Football is an evolved, faster, stronger version of Rugby. There's a little bit more to American Football than a bunch of slow Euro-slugs running around forming pointless silly little scrums and then constantly kicking the ball out of bounds. Rugby died years ago, move on!!!

And again I will explain to another witless European about the meaning of the word 'football' The term football has a different meaning depending on where you are in the world. If you are in Australia it means Rugby League or AFL. If you are in Europe it means Soccer, if you are in the US or Canada it means gridiron. Don't take it literally, it is a generic term with a different meaning depending where you are, it is not based on the amount of time a ball actually touches a foot!!!!!

Rugby in the UK is officially called 'Rugby football' (as in; RFU Rugby Football Union). So we in europe do the same do we not?

The ball is filled with air in order to give it spring and bounce and to allow it to be 'kicked' further...with a FOOT.

What exactly is your problem here?

I completely agree with you. America should totally change what it's been doing for over 100 years. I just don't get why Americans can't embrace soccer. I mean, what's not to love about paying $50 per ticket to watch 90 minutes of scoreless action followed by the classic 0-0 tie after overtime while 13 people get stabbed to death in an over packed stadium?

The game came from soccer.

First there was soccer aka football.

Then there was a game where people could grab and carry the ball and run with it.

That game became rugby.

U.S. football was kind of played like rugby until some deaths caused the government to order some more safety to the game. The forward pass was then put into the game. Now the ball is thrown more than people carrying it on foot (running).

Ehhh This Is America we don't change even if its good for us...get with the program

Info below to lazy to read

Because the original variation of the game was akin to rugby and the only method of scoring was by kicking the ball.

No point in changing the name as the game evolved. If that were the case, basketball would be known as hoop-net ball, since they longer shoot at a peach basket....

You're a moron. Soccer shouldn't be called football. Football uses the feet much more than soccer. You're pretty much of a dumbass?

You're a fat pasty faced limey, aren't you?

***********

Denz -

"...a lovely sport"? "Lovely"? LMAO!

The rest of the world is wrong.

Everything America does is wrong

Who's ever heard of this Metric System by the way?