Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Philly Union News and the Origin of the Word 'Soccer'

PPL Park - Source:  Something Original
The Philadelphia Union grabbed a valuable point on the road when they played DC United to a 1-1 ties on August 19th, 2012.

The Union Had a handful of chances in the first half but only managed to get up by one goal. DC United came back in the second half to score a goal making the game 1-1. There was significant late drama at the end of the game including three red cards, and a missed penalty by DC United. With the penalty miss, the Union happily took the one point as they strive to earn enough points to reach the playoffs this season.

The Union are currently in 8th place out of 10 teams in the Eastern Conference of the MLS. DC United is sitting in the last playoff spot at 5th place. The union have had several encouraging wins in their last five games, but the last two have been small stumbles from a team that must get points if it wants to make the playoffs.

Catch the highlights to the Union's drama filled tie vs DC United from MLSSoccer.com

And current MLS Standings for the Union

The Origin of the Word 'Soccer'

I recently discovered that the word 'soccer' was not created by Americans who wanted to spite the English by making up a new name for European football. In fact, the word actually came about as a nickname for football that was created by a university student in England.

Read my full article on the Origin of the Word 'Soccer' to find all the details.

Because of my discovery that soccer is as English as calling the sport football, I will proudly refer to the game as soccer, whether I am in America or a pub in England. I hope not to upset anyone with this, but how can anyone be upset if Englishmen created the word soccer, and used it for nearly one hundred years before it caught on in America?

My biggest question is why soccer is not still used in England today. It is simply a nickname for the sport, which has become unpopular to use because, as far as I can tell, it is used in America.

Anyway, I hope this will give a few people a moments hesitation the next time they try to correct someone for calling football, soccer, and soccer, football.