Football!!

[replicant_008]

Here is the simple explanation...

The game with the round ball was/is officiated in England by the Football Association - hence it was Association Football.

Later, a running game carrying the ball came into being - supposedly according to folklore when a certain William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it. Webb Ellis was a student at Rugby College and the game became Rugby (and the ball morphed into something oval).

Now along the way, Rugby split in two. The game in the South of England was very much a game played by upper class private boarding school educated 'gentlemen' (who stayed strictly amateur ie they were gentlemen and would not stoop to play for money but for the enjoyment of the game).

However, the miners and factory workers in the North of England did not have the luxury of high playing jobs or family money and broke away to form their own code.

The Southern Gents formed the Rugby Union which stayed fiercely non-professional into the early 90s and kept a 15 player code - whereas the Northerners formed the rival Rugby League using a 13 player code.

It's probable that the precursor to American or for that matter Canadian Football was derived from Rugby (possibly before the Union/League split).

The game Nort' Mercians call Soccer is called Football most places and is managed by FIFA which loosely translated is the International Federation of Football Associations. I figure that 190 countries can't be wrong...

[FireBball972]

i'm in Wisconsin, so basically, without a doubt, the Packers are my fav.

it's a religion up here

well, that and deer hunting

[Bavarian Boy M3]

i love football it lets you take your aggression out, and if you think that football players shouldnt wear pads, you should visit a football teams practice. and im only 12! football practices are probably the most difficult thing ive ever done, and i really dont know where football players would be without pads. this sounds crazy, but im not too big of a helmet fan though. most of the cuts, welts and bruises we get are from somebody (incorrectly) ramming you with their helmet when they tackle you. other than that, pads are reeeeeeally valuable.

[Aruba27]

football is really only cool to watch if you have some kind of personal conneciton with teh team. for instance, i loved watching my highschool friends play ball, but i can't really stand the NFL. UT longhorns aren't that great, but the games are still a blast to go to because the people support them hardcore. That's really freakin awesome. however, being an automotive forum and all, i believe the greatest sport ever is car racing. none of that sissy nascar stuff, ovals are easy to drive on. if i ever watch a nascar race, it's the first 5 laps, and the last 5. nothing really happens in between anyways. I love watching races like Le Mans, Formula one, Gran Turismo, anything that involves a track with more than just left turns. Back in the day when speed was not owned by Fox, they showed some awesome local British races, and since they weren't very officially regulated, it was almost a destruction derby! good times.

[Jimmiz71]

Living in New England My whole life its an easy guess that Im a Pats fan...
-Jimmy

[IntegraBoy2003]

New England Patriots fan, have been since 93 and the weird thing is I live in NY, but I cannot stand any NY football teams