The FC in America

[cyandlux]

(This is something Ive never seen before....dont yell at me if its been brought up)

Just cruising Wikipedia I came accross an expansive history of soccer leagues and soccer clubs in America...or should I say football clubs? The first few leagues in the US used football instead of soccer:

AFA (1884–88) • ALPF (1894–95) • NAFBL (1897) • UTFA (1902–20) Click here to see all the FCs > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Football_Association

The first league to use 'soccer' was the ASL I (1921–33).

Check out the team list (lots of FC for field club, whatever that is).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Soccer_League

This brings up a lot of questions that probably cant and wont be answered.

Even pantone was holding out on us:

http://www.ssur.org/research/TeamColors/So...occerLeague.htm

Point is is that its very interesting, especially as a counter to the Europeanizing MLS aguement...is it Europeanizing, or retro!?!

[totc]

Interesting, isn't it?

But note how few "athletic clubs" there are in the United States in 2007. They mostly serve as social clubs rather than places where people actually work out and train. That market has been taken care of by Bally's and its ilk.

In Europe, South Africa, and South America, there are many athletic clubs that have sponsor everything from swim teams to soccer teams to basketball and even field hockey clubs. These are traditional "clubs" which charge membership to belong to (and, presumably, gives people first dibs on tickets). That's been subsumed in this country by free enterprise and the personal seat license.

In the old days in American soccer, you had steel mills and athletic clubs fielding teams (St. Louis Screw, New York Athletic Club, etc.). These days, it's all franchising, in USL and MLS.

And a true "throwback" jersey would have our shirts saying USSFA on the front -- United States Soccer Football Association. Even though what we play is "association football," or "assoc." Soccer. Get it?

[hawk36]

As much as I love the NFL, don't see them having much of a leg to stand on with the name "football". It would be interesting to know how the American game even started being known as football as, honestly, I can't seem to see a good argument for it at all.

When you think of it, the word soccer actually would be a better name American football as it sounds more like the tackling that takes place in the sport.

[Titanole]

(This is something Ive never seen before....dont yell at me if its been brought up)

Just cruising Wikipedia I came accross an expansive history of soccer leagues and soccer clubs in America...or should I say football clubs? The first few leagues in the US used football instead of soccer:

AFA (1884?88) ? ALPF (1894?95) ? NAFBL (1897) ? UTFA (1902?20) Click here to see all the FCs > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Football_Association

Not to steer onto a tangent, but a question to American soccer fans. Has anyone ever heard of the United Football Association? I'm no historian, but I like to think I know a bit about the history of the game here in the states. I have never heard of this league. And in looking at the clubs on the list, several of them (like Detroit Speed, Atlanta Heat, Cincinnati Sonic) seem more like dopey modern-day soccer francise names than anything that would have existed at the turn of the 20th century. And the supposed founder of the league, James Erough, who according to his Wikipedia page played for England 1882-1894, does not appear on the list of former England senior team players.

Granted Wikipedia isn't exactly the most reliable reference material, so skepiticism is always warranted. It just sounds like fiction to me.

[cyandlux]

BLAM....http://www.ussoccer.com/history/timeline.jsp.html

Well, the leagues are real anyways. The history seems good to me, even though I cant find much off of Wikipedia either.

Plus, you're arguing with pantone...good idea? He's usually right.

[Snazel]

I think you'll see that as college football takes hold and captures the public's imagination, the term "soccer" becomes more pervasive to distinguish it from the other sport. In late 19th century, college football hasn't really caught fire yet, but by the 20's and 30's it has.

I like fact the MLS teams that are attempting a more European naming convention. It's refreshing. Even a name like Houston Dynamo is cool, because Dynamo just sounds like a soccer club, while Chicago Fire, sounds like an arena football team.

It's subtle and its subject to taste, but I am not so sure soccer clubs were meant to be called Toronto Destroyers, with some sort of leprechaun with a forked tongue wielding an atom bomb for a logo.

Chivas USA just has punch. I like it. It makes MLS unique and it makes some of the team names stand above, the Orlando Predators, make it clearly a soccer club and not some lacrosse team that plays on roller skates.

If Seattle was finally given an MLS team, I guess it should be called Sounders, because that name has tradition here. Still Seattle Sounders, doesn't really captivate the imagination does it? I'd call the a one name moniker, like Evergreen or Pacific. Bah, those are probably bad names, but I do like the fact the MLS is branching beyond the <CITY> <SOME VIOLENT NAME USED MANY TIMES BEFORE>, parameter list.

[leopard88]

(This is something Ive never seen before....dont yell at me if its been brought up)

Just cruising Wikipedia I came accross an expansive history of soccer leagues and soccer clubs in America...or should I say football clubs? The first few leagues in the US used football instead of soccer:

AFA (1884?88) ? ALPF (1894?95) ? NAFBL (1897) ? UTFA (1902?20) Click here to see all the FCs > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Football_Association

Not to steer onto a tangent, but a question to American soccer fans. Has anyone ever heard of the United Football Association? I'm no historian, but I like to think I know a bit about the history of the game here in the states. I have never heard of this league. And in looking at the clubs on the list, several of them (like Detroit Speed, Atlanta Heat, Cincinnati Sonic) seem more like dopey modern-day soccer francise names than anything that would have existed at the turn of the 20th century. And the supposed founder of the league, James Erough, who according to his Wikipedia page played for England 1882-1894, does not appear on the list of former England senior team players.

Granted Wikipedia isn't exactly the most reliable reference material, so skepiticism is always warranted. It just sounds like fiction to me.

Upon a second read of the Wikipedia entry, I think you may be on to something.

I've never heard of the United Football Association either. Something tells me that if there was a professional league that drew 20,000 fans per game, there would a lot more written about it. In addition, none of the early powerhouses of American soccer, such as Bethlehem Steel F.C. and Fall River F.C., are included. I'm also a little skeptical about Springfield Bristol having undertaken a very successful tour of the United Kingdom, only to see the records of the tour lost.

If this is legitimate I would love to hear more. However, you have now made me raise by antennae.

[DrBear]

Well, base ball used to be printed as two words back in the day. And softball used to be "kitten ball." Don't think we're going back to either of those...

[illwauk]

I have no problem with "traditional" soccer names, just keep them consistent with US/Canadian sports culture and use SC, AFC (assoc. football club) or even FC provided it refers to "futbol" and not "football." You wouldn't find a team called Chivas in the Premier League, or Juventus in Bundesliga (German League). The U.S. and Canada name their sports teams differently from the rest of the world..... and that's okay.

I can excuse "europosers" if they're used to tie a team to a cultural or ethnic heritage in its city. Like if the proposed Milwaukee MLS team took a name like "FC Bayern Milwaukee," since it was the Bavarians who brought soccer here or "Club Deportivo Milwaukee" since it acknowledges the Latina/o presence in Milwaukee. But names like Real Salt Lake don't get the US respect in the soccer (football) world, it just makes us a target for even more ridicule since there is obviously no context for such a name other than wanting to sound foriegn (aka Haggen Dazs syndrome).

[BB61]

As much as I love the NFL, don't see them having much of a leg to stand on with the name "football". It would be interesting to know how the American game even started being known as football as, honestly, I can't seem to see a good argument for it at all.

Ah, the ol' football family tree should explain that nicely.

Association Football was founded in... well... ancient times. And back then it was the only "Football". Association Football begat Rugby Football in the mid-1800's, when people figured out that carrying the ball was a lot easier than kicking it. That version of the game was transported over to American colleges about the same time, and by the time the end of the 19th Century had come about, it had morphed into the beginnings of what we now call American Football.

And therefore Football, as we know it, is, in reality, the grandchild of what we keep calling Soccer. (The name "soccer", incidentially, is an English College slang concoction of the word "Association")

Of course, honestly, with all the games in the world called Football, it's easy to get confused. It's just that we Americans are so narrowminded not to pay the others any mind.

[Brian in Boston]

Has anyone ever heard of the United Football Association? I'm no historian, but I like to think I know a bit about the history of the game here in the states. I have never heard of this league. And in looking at the clubs on the list, several of them (like Detroit Speed, Atlanta Heat, Cincinnati Sonic) seem more like dopey modern-day soccer francise names than anything that would have existed at the turn of the 20th century. And the supposed founder of the league, James Erough, who according to his Wikipedia page played for England 1882-1894, does not appear on the list of former England senior team players.

Granted Wikipedia isn't exactly the most reliable reference material, so skepiticism is always warranted. It just sounds like fiction to me.

The only place that the United Football Association has ever existed is in the fertile imagination of one poster to Wikipedia. This United States-based professional soccer circuit is completely fictitious.

[Titanole]

BLAM....http://www.ussoccer.com/history/timeline.jsp.html

Well, the leagues are real anyways. The history seems good to me, even though I cant find much off of Wikipedia either.

Plus, you're arguing with pantone...good idea? He's usually right.

Oh, there are plenty of failed U.S. soccer leagues that did exist. I question that the United Football Association is one of them. I see no mention of it on that U.S. Soccer history timeline link that I can find. That's the first place I looked after I read the Wiki UTFA page.

And how am I arguing with pantone? The teams he lists are from the second ASL 1934-1983. There's no doubt that league existed for many years. I remember the Miami Americans from when I was a kid.

Some professional leagues that did exist prior to the NASL:

American League of Professional Football

National Association Foot Ball League

Eastern Professional Soccer League 1

American Soccer League 1

International Soccer League 1

Eastern Professional Soccer League 2

American Soccer League 2

Eastern Professional Soccer Conference

North American Soccer Football League

International Soccer League 2

And another Wiki point. On the page for the American Football Association it seems to imply that it was a league. As I read the U.S. Soccer history timeline it looks to me to be more of an umbrella organization for eastern metropolitan leagues to ensure uniformity of play, stability, etc.

[gordie_delini]

Brian, I finally understand the reference to Football here in America - it makes a lot of sense, especially with the branching of Rugby Football from Association Football. It also makes sense to refer to American Football as "Football" in America, and to refer to Football as "Soccer" to avoid confusion. Since, then, that Soccer comes from a slang term for Football, it gives legitimacy to American and Canadian soccer teams to use the "FC" moniker - finally, it works for everybody!

[Your Name Here]

Just to be clear on something, it's not called football because you play the ball with your foot. It's called football because you play with a ball, while on foot. Thus, almost any sport so arranged could call itself football: baseball, basketball, korfball, jiggly ball.

[Lee.]

Has anyone ever heard of the United Football Association? I'm no historian, but I like to think I know a bit about the history of the game here in the states. I have never heard of this league. And in looking at the clubs on the list, several of them (like Detroit Speed, Atlanta Heat, Cincinnati Sonic) seem more like dopey modern-day soccer francise names than anything that would have existed at the turn of the 20th century. And the supposed founder of the league, James Erough, who according to his Wikipedia page played for England 1882-1894, does not appear on the list of former England senior team players.

Granted Wikipedia isn't exactly the most reliable reference material, so skepiticism is always warranted. It just sounds like fiction to me.

The only place that the United Football Association has ever existed is in the fertile imagination of one poster to Wikipedia. This United States-based professional soccer circuit is completely fictitious.

Brian! Are you saying that a user-edited reference resource potentially leaves itself open to shenanigans???

[Brick]

Since the word "soccer" was formed from the syllable "soc" in "association", maybe it should be pronounced "sosh-er".

While England considers itself the birthplace of football, in three of its former colony countries, it has been supplanted by a local form of football so that the term soccer has been used. I speak of American football, Australian Rules football and Canadian football. Gaelic football is popular in Ireland, but their national soccer association is still called a Football Association.

[Brian in Boston]

Brian! Are you saying that a user-edited reference resource potentially leaves itself open to shenanigans???

Shenanigans, mischief, hijinks and tom-foolery!!!

[Pandaguy87]

I don't care what anyone says, I don't want to see the MLS suffer from Haagen-Dazs syndrome. I mean the occasional FC and United would be alright, but if every team did that they'd isolate all the non-soccer fans, which they'd have to target sooner or later. But like stated before as long as they're creative with team names, that'd be cool. Some have stated before that they tried using traditional American team names, but I think all the bad ones are no longer in use, namely the MetroStars (Empire S.C. would've been so much better), and Fusion, which sounds cool but just doesn't work. I'm pretty sure you could figure out why the Wiz is a bad name. Still I notice some of the team names for the ASL follow a more baseball style, and I think that's not such a bad route for team names.

And I still say the Sounders is a somewhat stupid name. I mean it's like the Islanders are for Long Island, but I don't think anyone who lives around a sound can be called a sounder. Apparently a sounder is a person or device that makes sound, or a group of wild boar. In short, it's an okay name for a minor league team, but if we get an MLS team I expect a better name.

[harperdc]

Just to be clear on something, it's not called football because you play the ball with your foot. It's called football because you play with a ball, while on foot. Thus, almost any sport so arranged could call itself football: baseball, basketball, korfball, jiggly ball.

umm.

no. just no. that's a ridiculous etymology idea.

[illwauk]

I don't care what anyone says, I don't want to see the MLS suffer from Haagen-Dazs syndrome. I mean the occasional FC and United would be alright, but if every team did that they'd isolate all the non-soccer fans, which they'd have to target sooner or later. But like stated before as long as they're creative with team names, that'd be cool. Some have stated before that they tried using traditional American team names, but I think all the bad ones are no longer in use, namely the MetroStars (Empire S.C. would've been so much better), and Fusion, which sounds cool but just doesn't work. I'm pretty sure you could figure out why the Wiz is a bad name. Still I notice some of the team names for the ASL follow a more baseball style, and I think that's not such a bad route for team names.

C'mon now... Wiz had some ill marketing possibilities. Can you imagine a promo like "Tonight the Wiz was brought to you by Budweiser!" Probably as close as we could ever come to truth in advertising.

And I still say the Sounders is a somewhat stupid name. I mean it's like the Islanders are for Long Island, but I don't think anyone who lives around a sound can be called a sounder. Apparently a sounder is a person or device that makes sound, or a group of wild boar. In short, it's an okay name for a minor league team, but if we get an MLS team I expect a better name.

I know how you feel. I don't really care for the name Brewers, but that's a Milwaukee baseball name that goes back to the 19th century, so it'll probably be there forever... no matter how outdated it gets or how easily it justifies their identity looking just like their sponsors.' Sounders has the same synonymity(word?) with soccer in Seattle, but at least you don't have to worry about about those problems (unless a hurricane somehow swoops in and drops the entire city of Seattle inland )