What do you define as "Football"

Does getting rubbed off with a foot count as football?

NUTZZ wrote: »

Can't stand the word soccer being used for football, that word is for Americans.

Spoken like somebody who watches far, far too much sport on - surprise, surprise - British television.

It's bullshít that "soccer" is an Americanism. Typical of the ignorance of the anti-GAA/brainwashed by British tv brigade. The earliest records are: 'Socca' is recorded in England in 1889; 'socker' in 1891 and 'soccer' in 1895 - all in England. It is short for 'Association' as in Association Football. Source:

First use of 'soccer'

Soccer is, as a matter of historical fact, a breakaway from "football" as it was commonly understood - even as it was defined in England before soccer was invented in 1863. Why all the anti-Irish types refuse to acknowledge that there are many types of football and that theirs can only be dated to 1863 at the earliest reflects the lower socio-economic and educational attainment of soccer followers. Think of the sorts of places in Ireland where soccer is strong. Yes, working class Dublin and some council estates in urban towns. It's popular because they haven't the space for a proper (GAA) football pitch and there isn't enough social cohesion in those marginalised urban areas to field 30 men or women so they settle with the 22 people they can muster for a soccer match - indeed most of the time they have to settle for 5-a-side or 7-a-side soccer. If anything soccer playing is a sign of a breakdown in social cohesion, much of which is created by soccer followers fixation on foreign professional games rather than on improving their own communities (PhD thesis right there!).

Just have a look at the extraordinary anti-Irish bigotry (why hasn't he been banned yet?) of Mr "bogball" Stovelid there. It could only come from somebody from a culturally, educationally and economically lower class area of Dublin with cultureless parents who hasn't much going for him and therefore hates the rest of us who have the education to appreciate our own Irish tradition. Chip. Shoulder.

To be fair to Dublin, however, Mr "bogball" Stovelid in his bigotry is an increasingly marginalised voice. GAA is far more popular in Dublin than he would like to concede. In fact, GAA matches in Dublin draw much more people to its matches than the Garrison Game could ever manage. His bigotry cannot accept that truth, but no impartial observer can deny the far greater strength of the GAA in Dublin than the FAI. True, it's more popular among educated and cultured Dubliners but perhaps that's really why "bogball" Stovelid in much of his 22,000 odd (odd being an adjective here) posts expresses his hatred for GAA, non-Dubliners and indeed Dublin GAA people so much.


If it were Blacks, Jews or any other immigrants he'd have been banned long ago.