The history of football, or "soccer," as it is more widely known in Australia and the United States, spans several centuries. However, it's not uncommon for people to question why this well-liked sport is known as football in some nations and as soccer in others.
The word "football" actually refers to a range of sports, including American football, Canadian football, and association football, which is one cause of the disparity (which is what we refer to as soccer). Football is the name given to the sport in the United States and Canada because it is played with an oval-shaped ball and participants are permitted to toss, catch, and carry the ball with their hands.
However, because it is played with a round ball and participants are only permitted to use their feet to kick the ball, soccer is the name given to the sport in Australia and a large portion of the rest of the world. The term "association football," which is short for "soccer," was first used to describe the sport in the late 19th century to set it apart from other football variations.
Cultural and historical considerations play a bigger role in the underlying reason soccer is used to refer to football in Australia. Australian Rules football, a distinctive and historically significant form of football, had a strong heritage in the country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when soccer was less popular there than it was elsewhere.
As a result, to separate it from Australian Rules football, which is a more well-known and native sport, soccer was frequently referred to as "foreign football" or just "soccer." The term "soccer" eventually stuck and has been the most often used way to refer to the sport in Australia.
So there you have it; this explains why Australians refer to football as soccer. Language, culture, and history have all contributed to the way we talk about and refer to this cherished sport. There is no doubting that the sport, whether you refer to it as football or soccer, is an exhilarating one that is played all over the world.
