Steve said:

Fynnsky said: What would you call the league if it were up to you?

The Good Ole' Honkey-Tonk Soccorama Championship presented by Taco Bell®

How bout THE FAT BURGER SAWKERMANIA CHALLENGE

fourfourtwo said: Soccer

First of all, scold the Brits for coining this term.

Then, you need to tell off the Brits for still using this term fairly regularly today. Soccer school, Soccer AM on Sky Sports, etc.

The danger of inventing a term and continuing to use it, is that it might spread!

Neeskens1974 said:

Blue_and_White_Army said:

fourfourtwo said: Soccer

First of all, scold the Brits for coining this term.

Then, you need to tell off the Brits for still using this term fairly regularly today. Soccer school, Soccer AM on Sky Sports, etc.

The danger of inventing a term and continuing to use it, is that it might spread!

Also, noticed the term soccer very widely used in Ireland.

My buddy from South Africa says Soccer is the term there too. I don't think you can blame this one on North America nor MLS. I prefer soccer because when I was a kid that's what we played. I get frowned at all the time for saying it, but I didn't grow up in England.

"Soccer" came from "Asociation football" as opposed to "Rugby footbal" (which was known as "Rugger"). Arguably, soccer is just a more precise way of naming the sport; no one has to ask "which code?"

^ I interchange it all the time. Not a big deal in my opinion, it's the same game. Usually it depends if I'm talking to someone who is more into American Football than soccer.

Bad news: there is actually a sport called "throwball".

Blue_and_White_Army said:

The_Real_Deal said: Roster

While I too prefer the British nomenclature (squad, fixture, match, etc.), it does make me giggle when Brit expats insist on it.

Have a look at the websites of some British ice hockey clubs. Despite ice hockey starting in North America, do you think the people at those clubs use North American nomenclature (roster, schedule, game)? Nope.

You can't have it both ways...

I suppose calling it a match would still be ok, le match de hockey

Blue_and_White_Army said:

fourfourtwo said: I personally hate the word and in my mind it is attached to all the horrible NA stereotypes that "only gays, women, immigrants and communists" follow the sport.

You mean the most popular participatory sport in all of Canada?

You just made my point for me. The game has changed and its time for the brand of "soccer" to change in North America. I associate the word Soccer with the brand of the game and I think we all agree that the profile of the game needs to and is changing.

The north american youth soccer phenomenon was like Starbucks and introduced everyone to an enjoyable version of the sport, I think that we now ready to move on to the the third wave just like in soccer. Language is an important part of how the narrative is going to grow and change and we should all be thoughtful of how we choose to communicate that to others.

fourfourtwo said:

Blue_and_White_Army said:

fourfourtwo said: I personally hate the word and in my mind it is attached to all the horrible NA stereotypes that "only gays, women, immigrants and communists" follow the sport.

You mean the most popular participatory sport in all of Canada?

You just made my point for me. The game has changed and its time for the brand of "soccer" to change in North America. I associate the word Soccer with the brand of the game and I think we all agree that the profile of the game needs to and is changing.

I think the problem is that you and some others might view the word that way, but I don't know that most do. For me,at least, the term carries no baggage whatsoever.

As noted above, it isn't just North America - "soccer" is a commonly used title in Ireland, South Africa and Australia. In every case, it is largely because other codes are referred to as football. The effort by the Australian federation to push away from "soccer' has been a mixed bag at best.

Seathanaich said: If you say soccer all the time, there will be no confusion.

If you say football, you might encounter some confusion from people who aren't football fans (yes, they exist). That can be avoided by saying "soccer" at the beginning of the conversation, and switching to "football" as the conversation continues. One of two things will happen: (1) the other person will know what you mean, or (2) they will ask, and you will teach them something new.

Exactly. This is what I am talking about, creating broader conversations with day to day people about the game, not just deliberately confusing people.

I typically call it 'soccer' and have no issues with it having this NA label. But, when you look at another NA sport - American football - why is THAT the one we decided ought to be called football, while soccer didn't get that label. It still makes no sense to me.

I am not british,. but I like calling the beautiful game "football". It is called a variation of "football"... (taken from english) in many more languages than it is called "sawker": futbol, futebol, fotboll, futbola, fotbal, fodbold, futbalo, fotbolti, ect ect.. The only places that call it sawker are: NA, Australia, NZ, South Africa, Japan. I like how Robson & Obrien still call it football when being interviewed by local media... The way it should be called... But that's just my opinion.

WhitecapsFutbol said: This is just my opinion,.. and I know I will make some BC Lions fans upset.. But I think NFL & CFL are a JOKE of a Sport. It's great when I have insomnia. It cures it real quick.. only take about 15 minutes.

it's not upsetting, just a little narrow. It's not my favourite sport, but I do enjoy football, especially the Canadian version. I'll continue referring to it as football, too, because doing otherwise introduces confusion in many contexts.

I can't tell people at work I'm going to a football game tonight and expect them to understand I mean a soccer game, because they'll rightly think the Lions are playing.

Complete opposite of the purpose of the thread but one of my favorite terms is the one used to describe someone who plays football professionally: "footballer".

WhitecapsFutbol said: The only places that call it sawker are: NA, Australia, NZ, South Africa...

If only we could be like Pakistan, Nigeria and Kenya!

"serves no purpose"
"serves to alienate people."

Perhaps that was the intention, so it does serve a purpose?

So much hatred slamo!

Harris. :(

Ferreira

No offence to WhitecapsFutbol, but I find most people that don't like CFL/NFL don't really understand the complexities of the game. Yes, the play stops after 10 seconds of actions. But in that 10 seconds there are 30 deliberate and sometimes complex things going on all over the field. Watch the replay and just watch one player - watch how much he does to affect the play. It's definitely not as fast paced as soccer, but it's definitely interesting.

SAFC_Yank said: I can find something worthwhile to watch in every code of football, save perhaps rugby league.

You must be watching the UK version - try the Aussie RL, especially State of Origin

Edit, oops - just noticed Neeskens gave same answer

Seathanaich said: 25.

it.

Comments like "15 minutes of action in 2/5 hours" miss the point as much as "soccer players dive too much" or "baseball is boring". Most of the people who say things like this have given a few minutes to watching the new sport (which they then declare they "don't like"), compared to the hours of exposure they got to sports they do like (often passively,

I don't think I'm missing the point at all. Having been to more than 40 CFL games including 6 Grey Cups, I think I have a basis on which to form my opinion

Seathanaich said: It all comes down to exposure.

Somebody tell seathanich that's the most ass-hatty thing I've ever read. (yeah I know, it's not winning me any friends, but I'm pretty sure this is a lost cause.) The belief that I don't like something just because I haven't been exposed to it enough is the most vile pile of nonsense I've ever read.

I LOVE beets. Roasted, pickled, in salads, as borscht ... LOVE them. My wife thinks they taste like dirt. I've prepared them for her in many different ways and the dirt flavour still comes through. She's been exposed to them, and still doesn't like them. Exposing them to her further is just going to see me sleeping on the couch.

Sometimes people just don't like something. It's not wrong, it's not about exposure ... it's OPINION. And as far as opinions go, the more the better.

Boxing_Day_Massacre said:

SAFC_Yank said: I can find something worthwhile to watch in every code of football, save perhaps rugby league.

You must be watching the UK version - try the Aussie RL, especially State of Origin

Edit, oops - just noticed Neeskens gave same answer

I give it a few minutes if I come across it, and it isn't awful, but all the other codes can hold my interest more. The rhythm of RL just seems to repetitive to me, but I know a few people that are absolute die-hards about it.

Neeskens1974 said:

FootyMonster said:

Neeskens1974 said: I'll start:

Golaso.

If there's one word that makes me want to pick up the telly and throw it out of the window it is this one. Please. Stop. It. Now.

I couldn't agree more. I might tolerate it if it used to describe 1-5 goals a year. But it gets overused BADLY.