Completely OT, but quick question...

[Feinder]

Do you Ozzies say "Soccer".

I know pretty much the rest of the world says "football". But I was watching "The Wiggles" with my 2 year old this morning before leaving for work (it's a Australian show on the Disney Channel, I think it's produced in Sydney). They were talking about how to play cricket, and then soccer. I was kinda surprised they said soccer, because I thought we Americans were the only ones that called it that. I thought they might have used soccer, because they knew the show would air in the US; but then, there are plenty of other times on that show where I'll hear an Australian phrase (so I figured they weren't changing the vernacular for the US audience).

Do Ozzies call it "soccer" or "football"?

-F-

[spence]

Would it be impertinent to say that most Aussies call it "a bloody good excuse to drink beer"?

[ny59giants]

Isn't there also a sport called Australian Football??

[AmiralLaurent]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Isn't there also a sport called Australian Football??

Yes but is a variant of what is called soccer in USA...

By the way, Americans had the strange idea to call football a sport where you use only hands 95% of the time (at least to handle the ball... or the opponents).

[mikemike]

ORIGINAL: AmiralLaurent

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Isn't there also a sport called Australian Football??

Yes but is a variant of what is called soccer in USA...

I'm sorry to contradict you, but Australian Football is nothing like FIFA football, it's more like Rugby, with four goalposts to each side and I think nineteen players to each team. It's rather more rowdy than Rugby, as might be expected from Australians, they always like to put the boot in.

Australians may use "soccer" because they regard Australian Football as football or because Australia is being Americanised culturally for decades. Just remember Rupert Murdoch who was born Aussie but is now the Great US Patriot.

[darken92]

ORIGINAL: Feinder

Do Ozzies call it "soccer" or "football"?

-F-

We call it Soccer but some people may refer to is as football. The reaon is we allready have a game called football, known as "Aussie Rules", or as listed above "Australian Football".

Aussie Rules is closer to Rugby or (to a lesser degree) Gridiron then it is to Soccer. Imagine paying Gridiron with no downs, no stopping, much like you do in Soccer and you will have some idea.

[Feinder]

Why does it not surprise me that it took 5 replies from the board denizens to get a straight answer...? [;)]

Darken, this is your first post...?!

Your first post should be something completely inflammatory like,
1. "OMG! Bombardments suck! My PBEM opponent just wiped the 2100 aircraft I had based at Baker Island!"
2. "Allied 4e bombers are over-powered! Therez no stopping them!"
3. "Why do Bettys always carry torps! They keep killing me!"
4. "Its so not fair that Allied CVs and cruisers respawn! I think Shokaku should respawn too!"
5. "Itz not fair that Allies can see little red Xs after I make my move! Now I can't surpriz him with my Bettys!"

[:D]

Thanks!
-F-

[treespider]

Aussie Rules Football...well it rules!
 
Kind of a combination of Rugby, Basketball and Soccer....Rugby because you can tackle...soccer because you score by kicking the ball between goal posts...basketball because if you don't pass you have to dribble every so many yards or meters if I'm not mistaken.  

[rogueusmc]

ORIGINAL: Feinder

Why does it not surprise me that it took 5 replies from the board denizens to get a straight answer...? [;)]

Darken, this is your first post...?!

Your first post should be something completely inflammatory like,
1. "OMG! Bombardments suck! My PBEM opponent just wiped the 2100 aircraft I had based at Baker Island!"
2. "Allied 4e bombers are over-powered! Therez no stopping them!"
3. "Why do Bettys always carry torps! They keep killing me!"
4. "Its so not fair that Allied CVs and cruisers respawn! I think Shokaku should respawn too!"
5. "Itz not fair that Allies can see little red Xs after I make my move! Now I can't surpriz him with my Bettys!"

[:D]

Thanks!
-F-

That tends to be the standard...that or "units at San Francisco won't load!!!...the game's broken!!!"

[JamesM]

ORIGINAL: mikemike

I'm sorry to contradict you, but Australian Football is nothing like FIFA football, it's more like Rugby, with four goalposts to each side and I think nineteen players to each team. It's rather more rowdy than Rugby, as might be expected from Australians, they always like to put the boot in.

Australians may use "soccer" because they regard Australian Football as football or because Australia is being Americanised culturally for decades. Just remember Rupert Murdoch who was born Aussie but is now the Great US Patriot.

It is actually 18 per side with 4 interchange, generally 20 or 25 minutes quarters with the clock stopped every time the ball goes out of play.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football

[DaveB]

...and for what it's worth, when I was a kid we called football 'soccer' here in the UK, and as far as I am aware it's still a common name for it. Of course it's no longer played properly, with short sleeves and long socks and shorts that increase your total mass 20% when it's raining, when shin pads were for girls (and made by stuffing 2 programs in yer socks or half a copy of 'The Sporting Chronicle' apiece as an alternative), players had a 'short back and sides', a pipe, a flat cap and a full time job in a dockyard. The boots weighed 10 lbs each, or 20 with mud on, were waterproofed with dubbin that doubled as hair cream, the leather ball hardened and got steadily heavier as it got wetter so that by half time anyone who headed it was guaranteed concussion. Oh, and everyone was called Stan.

....Don't even THINK about getting me started on the merits of a meat and potato pie at half time.

[Ian R]

ORIGINAL: DaveB

Oh, and everyone was called Stan.

Or "Les".

Australian Football's closest relative is Gaelic (Irish) football. The latter is closer to Association football (ie, the round ball game) as it uses a round ball that is heavier than a soccer ball and is played on a rectangular field with a soccer net with rugby type posts on top. Australian football is played on an Oval with an oval ball that is smaller and lighter than a rugby ball and flies further when kicked. The main scoring route is to kick it between the middle two of the four posts (AF) or into the net (GF) Both games feature kicking, the "mark" or 'free kick" - meaning free of opposition interference if you catch it on the full, hand passing - meaning you punch it through the air to somebody else, and bouncing it or "toeing it" to yourself if on the run. In Australian football if you kick through the posts outside the main posts you get a point for a "behind" and in Irish football if you kick it through the posts on top you get an "over". Or maybe its called a "beside".

Over the last 20-30 years an "international rules" game was developed so Australia and Ireland could play each other a couple of times a year, with official games starting in 1984. last November 5 2006, 82,000 tuned out in Dublin to watch the second match of a two-test series. Unfortunately the 2007 series is currently "suspended" because the authorities were very unhappy the 2006 series turned into a moving 15 v 15 man brawl, which ironically is of course why the 82,000 spectators actually turned up.

Incidentally, Australia won the game but Ireland probably won the brawl.

[Reg]

Queensland and New South Wales often use the term 'Football' to refer to Rugby League (or occasionally Rugby Union)....
 
Soccer is Soccer everywhere.

[MarcA]

Of course, it's not what a game is called which is important but how drunk you get when your watching it.

[MarcA]

ORIGINAL: Feinder

Why does it not surprise me that it took 5 replies from the board denizens to get a straight answer...? [;)]

Darken, this is your first post...?!

Your first post should be something completely inflammatory like,
1. "OMG! Bombardments suck! My PBEM opponent just wiped the 2100 aircraft I had based at Baker Island!"
2. "Allied 4e bombers are over-powered! Therez no stopping them!"
3. "Why do Bettys always carry torps! They keep killing me!"
4. "Its so not fair that Allied CVs and cruisers respawn! I think Shokaku should respawn too!"
5. "Itz not fair that Allies can see little red Xs after I make my move! Now I can't surpriz him with my Bettys!"

[:D]

Thanks!
-F-

I thought everyones first post was "Why wont this stupid game let me load USAFFE/DEI lcu's onto to transports? I have tried everything!"

[bradfordkay]

ORIGINAL: DaveB

...and for what it's worth, when I was a kid we called football 'soccer' here in the UK, and as far as I am aware it's still a common name for it. Of course it's no longer played properly, with short sleeves and long socks and shorts that increase your total mass 20% when it's raining, when shin pads were for girls (and made by stuffing 2 programs in yer socks or half a copy of 'The Sporting Chronicle' apiece as an alternative), players had a 'short back and sides', a pipe, a flat cap and a full time job in a dockyard. The boots weighed 10 lbs each, or 20 with mud on, were waterproofed with dubbin that doubled as hair cream, the leather ball hardened and got steadily heavier as it got wetter so that by half time anyone who headed it was guaranteed concussion. Oh, and everyone was called Stan.

....Don't even THINK about getting me started on the merits of a meat and potato pie at half time.

Sounds to me like you are describing someone named "Andy"... I used to read about his exploits on a daily basis.

[DSwain]

ORIGINAL: DaveB

...and for what it's worth, when I was a kid we called football 'soccer' here in the UK, and as far as I am aware it's still a common name for it. Of course it's no longer played properly, with short sleeves and long socks and shorts that increase your total mass 20% when it's raining, when shin pads were for girls (and made by stuffing 2 programs in yer socks or half a copy of 'The Sporting Chronicle' apiece as an alternative), players had a 'short back and sides', a pipe, a flat cap and a full time job in a dockyard. The boots weighed 10 lbs each, or 20 with mud on, were waterproofed with dubbin that doubled as hair cream, the leather ball hardened and got steadily heavier as it got wetter so that by half time anyone who headed it was guaranteed concussion. Oh, and everyone was called Stan.

....Don't even THINK about getting me started on the merits of a meat and potato pie at half time.

Ah yes, all too well I remember the ordeal of soccer at school and a sadistic teacher kicking a ball at the lacklustre player (ie, me), said ball leaving a painful red mark on cold, chapped legs. I should have sued the bugger.....

[DaveB]

Sounds to me like you are describing someone named "Andy"...

The redoubtable Mr Capp, and long suffering Flo, I presume?
He'd be more of a spectator - the sort of chap who would call the equally fictitious 'Roy of the Rovers' "a bit of a pansy". We're really looking more for a sort of amalgam of Alf Tupper and The Amazing Wilson, but with Nobby Styles' charm and sophistication, if I'm allowed to mix fact and fiction.
 
Rain, of course, never stopped play, but the local tobacconist/paper shop running out of Old Holborn might.

[JeffroK]

This is fun,
 
We have Aussie Rules Football, FIFA Football, Rugby League Football, Rugby Union Fotball, American Football, Gaelic Football, Indoor Futsal & Fusball
 
And i could see each of them played within 20km of home on a weekend.

[bradfordkay]

In the comic strip, Andy Capp was thrown out of more football(soccer) games than most people have participated in.

The Classic Andy Capp: you'd see a panel of a player dribblin the ball, the next panel Andy comes into the scene, the third panel the classic cartoon fight (cloud of dust with arms and legs sticking out in so many odd directions), final panel a scuffed up Andy dribbling the ball with the referee chasing him while blowing his whistle.

Alas, his day has passed...