It's Football, Not Soccer (And Vice Versa): On the History, Emotion, and Ideology Behind One of the Internet's Most Ferocious Debates

by Stefan Szymanski, Silke-Maria Weineck

Every four years, when the World Cup rolls around, the internet yells at the US that "it's football, not soccer." This short and light-hearted book lays out the contours of the debate, delves into the history of the word “football” and the emergence of the word “soccer,” explores some 20th century data on the distribution of the two words and the surprisingly recent origin of the great schism, tells you about all the words the world actually uses to describe the game, gives you a glimpse of the convoluted fate of the word soccer in Australia, and tries to make sense of it all.



Stefan Szymanski, co-author of "Soccernomics," is a sports economist who teaches sport management at the University of Michigan.



Silke-Maria Weineck, author of "The Tragedy of Fatherhood," teaches German Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan.

Genres: Sports

146 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 26, 2018

About the author

Professor of Sport Management at the University of Michigan. I am an economist whose research is focused on the business and economics of sports, as well as their culture and history. I write books to reach a wider audience than is feasible through the peer-reviewed academic papers that have been the mainstay of my career. I also write occasionally for the Soccernomics blog and tweet from time to time from @ssz.

(source: Amazon)

Reviews

[Mahlon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's certainly an interesting argument and well explored in this authors capable hands, but surprisingly given my ever deepening Love an interest in the sport I find it's not something I care a whole lot about. I use Soccer when discussing the Sport or our national team with my American friends and football when discussing the Premier league or chatting with my European friends.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've witnessed a few of the online football/soccer battles that inspired this book, and they really do get crazy. The authors have set out to examine the arguments of both camps, which they do with both humor and insight. The book goes of the history of the game - whatever you call it - and the history of its name. The word soccer, which raises hackles among so many of the English whenever they hear it, is shown to be an English coinage that was used interchangeably with football up through the 1970s. Since then it has fallen into disrepute as "an Americanism" for reasons not entirely clear, though several possible explanations are examined. There is also some discussion of soccer/football terminology in the English speaking commonwealth countries, and numerous, frequently amusing, examples of the internet vitriol this apparently minor conflict engenders. I would recommend this book to anybody who loves language or sports.

[Daniele Purrone · Rating 5 out of 5]

100% right

The authors are 100% right about everything.
But I will still say “it’s football, not soccer” and have fun on social media just for the sake of it.
I do the same when I troll people about the “original” recipe of carbonara, even though I know it’s not really the original. 😂

[Rob Sedgwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing in places

A bit repetitive, amusing at times, absurdly analytical at others. And deeply inconclusive as to the conundrum of what to call it.