Terminology... Football, Rugby, Soccer, and Varsity

This is article #2 in a series covering the origins of football’s terminology. All are available under the Terminology tab above. My book, Hut! Hut! Hike! describes the emergence of more than 400 football terms.

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Across the world and back to ancient times, men competed in games that involved kicking, batting, or throwing a ball into their opponent's goals. Our gridiron game descends most directly from English folk contests where young men from nearby villages kicked an inflated pig's bladder from their village into the neighbor's. The annual pig slaughter, which supplied the kickable bladders, came after harvest, so they scheduled the games as the weather turned chilly.

An illustration of foot ball played at Kingston-upon-Thames on Shrove 1846. (Public domain)

As a kicking game, it became known as football. Football's rules varied from one locale to the next until a few chaps created the Football Association and established formal rules in 1863. The Association rules did not allow players to touch the ball with their hands or arms, while a similar game played at The Rugby School in Warwickshire allowed players to pick up and run with the ball. This game became known as rugby, while the no-hands game remained football.