'Soccer' to become 'football' in Australia

[red card]

Melbourne, Australia — They'll be playing "football," not "soccer," in Australia from now on.

The Australian Soccer Association is changing its name to Football Federation Australia, a symbolic move that chairman Frank Lowy said Thursday is meant to bring the country into line with the majority of the world.

The United States, Canada and New Zealand are among the few countries that call the sport "soccer."

Lowy said the wording change is a significant step in improving the sport's profile ahead of the start of next year's new national competition, the A League, and World Cup qualifying.

One casualty of might be the traditional nickname of the national team: the Socceroos.

[Daniel]

A bit retarded if you ask me, especially since they have 2-3 football codes ahead of association football down under!

[mjoni]

I like the idea that we have our own unique word for the game - even if it does come from England. Personally, I think we should change the CSA to the CSFA, the Canadian Soccer Football Association. Then we can be "aligned" with the rest of the word and still have our own lame word.

[Jarrek]

Bold move by the Aussies, but I think it's a good one.

Canada should follow!

[Guest HamiltonSteelers]

"The Footballroos" or "The Footyroos" or "The Fitbaroos"

Hmm... so much for the nickname. *shrug*

[Michael Crampton]

When I started a club in the local men's league (Central Park Wanderers - the drinking club with a soccer problem) I tried to convince everyone that we should add SFC as a suffix. They all though that "soccer football" was stupid and redundent though - even though it's not eytemogically(sp?) - and voted for just FC instead... seems like my bhoys are all Euro-snobs at heart.

CSA's fine though if I could go back in time I'd have called it the CSFA.

Mike.

[argh1]

I may be the only one that understands this thinking .....but here goes. I like using soccer especially in Canada.

Soccer will never be confused with......3-down football, 4-down football, rugby football, Gaelic football, Aussie football etc.

Soccer needs an identity in Canada and throwing in the oft used term football I don't think helps alot.

[Daniel]

I'll only say soccer unless talking with foreign people (even then, sometimes I stick with soccer). However, whenever naming my team in a league (ie rec or tournament), I usually apply the suffix FC and not SC, because FC is an established mark of a soccer club, even if it comes from the word football.

[beachesl]

-posted by Luis Rancauga in another thread</u>

Name change for governing body

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Australian Associated Press

Australian soccer officials will start calling their sport football next year - a move certain to raise ire in AFL and rugby league circles.

The Australian Soccer Association (ASA) will become known as Football Federation Australia (FFA) from January 1, bringing it into line with other football federations around the world.

Only a handful of FIFA's 200-plus affiliated nations call the sport soccer - Australia, the United States, New Zealand and Canada among them.

Elsewhere in the world, soccer is known as football - something ASA chairman Frank Lowy says he wants to move towards in Australia.

Lowy admitted getting Australians to call the game football would not be easy, but believed it was a significant step in improving the sport's national profile ahead of the start of next year's new national competition and World Cup qualifying campaign.

"2005 will be one of the most crucial in the history of football in Australia and we will start it off with this symbolic move," Lowy said.

"The change in our corporate name is another part of the ongoing process of repositioning the game in Australia."

"It is another small but important step on the journey away from old soccer and into new football."

One casualty of the move to call Australian soccer football may be the long-time moniker of the sport's national team, the Socceroos.

Lowy admitted the name could be past its use-by date and may eventually fade away if the football tag catches on in Australia.

"We are one of the few countries that calls its national team by a nickname," Lowy said.

"It has been commonly used and is a much loved name but we may see it fade out as evolution takes place."

The late Johnny Warren was a long-time advocate of branding the game football in Australia.

But with rugby league commonly termed football in Queensland and NSW and Australian rules using the tag elsewhere in the country, soccer had taken on the less common name derived from the sport's original name association football to differentiate itself from other football codes.

Lowy also said the change of name was more than just symbolic.

"The New Football in a corporate sense will stand for good, modern and transparent corporate governance and management, honest and open communication, inclusiveness and a "unity of purpose" in the best interests of the game," he said in an open letter to Australian soccer stakeholders.

"Through extensive consultation with the football community and with our current and future consumers in the latter part of this year, we have also been able to articulate what the new football brand will stand for."

"Its core attributes of inclusiveness, family, expressiveness, youth, style and fun will be prominent in the way that football is presented going forward."

[Thomps]

When we started our mens team to play in our local city league, we called ourselves Leeds United (as we all live in Leeds County) and team became L.U.S.T. There was no way we were going to be a football club (F.C.) after we spotted that on our registration form.

[canso]

Soccer will never be confused with......3-down football, 4-down football, rugby football, Gaelic football, Aussie football etc.

How about the CEFA? Canadian European Football Association?

[Daniel]

quote:Originally posted by canso

Soccer will never be confused with......3-down football, 4-down football, rugby football, Gaelic football, Aussie football etc.

How about the CEFA? Canadian European Football Association?

That's the worst idea I've ever heard. Ever.

[Massive Attack]

They have no problem calling it 'calcio' in Italy. I don't see why we can't keep calling it soccer. The Australian Association is stupid, especially considering their circumstances in their home country. The article they released is full of press release crap like:

"The New Football in a corporate sense will stand for good, modern and transparent corporate governance and management, honest and open communication, inclusiveness and a "unity of purpose" in the best interests of the game,"

What a load of crap that doesn't say anything. Must be the same kind of people who say things like 'pro-active' or 'think outside the box'. Statements with no meaning whatsoever.

[Desigol]

Also, the Aussies from Queensland and New South Wales call Rugby League Footy (what the Rest of Australia calls Aussie Rules).

[beachesl]

Now more from "It's A Small World" department (my italics added):

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Player's death strengthens reform call in India

By N.Ananthanarayanan

NEW DELHI, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The death of Brazilian-born striker Cristiano Junior on a soccer pitch this month has highlighted the sorry state of the game in India.

Junior collapsed seconds after scoring his second goal to help Dempo FC beat Calcutta's Mohun Bagan 2-0 in the final of a top club event in Bangalore.

A national uproar ensued, with the media criticising soccer officials for the delay in getting the player to hospital and blaming the rival goalkeeper for cynically hitting Junior on his face as he scored.

The post mortem report said Junior died of cardiac arrest, although his club and his wife, Juliana, wanted a second autopsy before his body was eventually flown home.

Junior's prolific scoring had helped Calcutta's East Bengal to claim their third national league title in April and the tragedy turned the spotlight on everything that was wrong in Indian soccer.

That list can go on and on.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) was blamed for not reining in the offending goalkeeper Subrata Pal earlier, when he pushed down a rival player in a scuffle in another tournament. He was merely asked to explain his conduct.

The AIFF finally suspended him, pending a disciplinary hearing, along with the referee, who was blamed for not promptly calling an ambulance or sending off Pal.

Critics say the incident demonstrated the plight of the game in India and the administration's lack of vision.

STEADY DECLINE

India, among the top Asian countries and twice Asian Games champions in 1951 and 1962 in the amateur era, have fallen away while Japan, South Korea, China and the Gulf nations have fully embraced professionalism.

India are ranked 132 in the world and 24th out of 45 in Asia.

"The only way to change things is to professionalise the administration," said federation secretary Alberto Colaco.

Criticised by an Asian governing body report this year, the federation plans to amend its rules soon to appoint a full-time chief executive to tone up the administration and marketing.

"We've decided to start from the top, so all other things can follow," Colaco said.

Soccer is hugely popular in cricket-crazy India. Major events such as the World Cup, European Championship and the Copa America are broadcast live in the billion-strong country.

ESPN-Star Sports channels even introduced Hindi commentary for Euro 2004 and said it doubled viewership.

Cricket corners almost three-quarters of sports advertising in Asia's fourth largest economy and many feel the potential is not exploited in soccer due to poor administration.

"All are looking at India along with China but we don't have a marketing section," Colaco said.

NO CALENDAR

National coach Stephen Constantine has called for regular friendlies to improve the standard of Indian soccer, but a lack of advance planning makes such fixtures difficult to organise.

The federation plans to meet top club officials to discuss problems before the national league starts in January, but there is scepticism about the proposed rule changes.

Club soccer is confined to pockets of India -- Calcutta in the east and Goa in the south. Even there, most games are played on bumpy public grounds.

"The AIFF should see each state produces at least one club, most units are there only on paper," said East Bengal secretary Kalyan Mazumdar.

He said the federation did little to help clubs or show Indian domestic games on television to popularise the game.

Indian soccer's ills are also blamed on sub-standard foreign players, particularly from Africa. Soccer officials say the history of overseas players is rarely verified.

"There is no control whatsoever on them," Mazumdar said. "But clubs don't have the money to buy good players."

"In olden days, landlords built temples and promoted sport. Now it's up to the corporate world, but no-one is coming forward."