no, its real name is Association Football.

If you want the brief history, which you probs don't, ah who cares i've finished my degree got plenty of free time....

Association Football, cannot be identified to its roots, Scotland, England, Greece, Italy and South American countries claim to have first played a game with a round ball, in all likelihood the game began in China a few thousand years ago.....

However, the game we now play is a direct descendent of Eton, Rugby and Harrow Public Schools around 1850 - as the benefits of sport and religion were highly regarded by Thomas Arnold the new Headteacher of Rugby School around 1820ish.

The game began in the South, the first club in the world is generally considered Sheffield FC around 1850ish..then Corinthians etc all old boys teams from the Public schools....

SO in conclusion, Association Football is its real name and it is the British that started it, however the origins of kicking a round ball stem well back in time, and probably not to England. The yanks call it soccer, but so do many foreign FA's.

Posted By: vstevenson, Jun 12, 18:55:23