Re: Hamas' top political leader is killed

On Mon, 5 Aug 2024 12:25:17 +0100, "Blueshirt" <blueshirt@indigo.news>
wrote:

I'm just waiting for the new football* season to start for my
entertainment.
>
>
[*That's socka to you guys in the USA!]

Why did America call it football?

The exact etymology of the word "football" is slightly unclear, but
many historians say the term dates back to the late Middle Ages, when
it was used to refer to any sport that was played on foot, as opposed
to sports played on horseback. Over centuries, it came to be
associated with different kicking games played throughout the U.K.,
the rules of which were eventually combined and standardized to form
football (or soccer, as it became known in the U.S.) in the mid-19th
century.

Around the same time, rugby -- or rugby football -- began developing
in and around England. Though similar to soccer in that it required a
team to advance a ball toward its opponents' goal, it differed in that
players could pick up the ball and run it down the field.

Over the next decades, American universities began playing their own
early forms of football using rules derived from both rugby (rugby
football) and association football (the sport that came to be known as
soccer). And by the turn of the century, American games of football
had evolved and adopted so many new rules that they barely resembled
U.K. football.

By that time, however, the name "football" had already taken a
foothold in America, and it was here to stay, according to the Pro
Football Hall of Fame.

https://www.wboy.com/sports/why-is-football-called-football/