Mainstream Aussie press finally adopting the term football as soccer seen as thing of the past
By Simon Hill
From: FOX SPORTS
October 01, 2012 4:15PM
Seven years ago, the Australian Soccer Association renamed itself Football Federation Australia.
The reason was partly pragmatic - to distance itself from the failings (real and perceived) of the old body, but it was also to align the game here with the general international usage of the word "football".
Its been a thorny topic ever since. The adoption of the slogan "old soccer, new football" that accompanied the changeover left some within the game feeling marginalised - ostracised even - and those feelings persist to this day.
Outside of the immediate football family, many supporters of the other codes were (and in some cases still are) scathing of the change. Their view was that "soccer" offered clarity in an Australian context, and that using football was hypocritical when the national team still used the nickname "Socceroos".
Nowhere has this debate been more polarised than in the mainstream press. Fairfax - publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald - was the first to break with tradition and go with "football" in 2006.
Other publications such as the Newcastle Herald adopted a halfway house of "football-soccer". The Canberra Times used football as the drop down tab online while soccer stayed as the sub-heading of individual stories. Only the Melbourne-based Age remained (and remains) steadfastly and completely in the "Soccer" camp.
News Limited, publisher of daily newspapers in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide, has likewise been resolutely in the "Soccer" camp, but that is about to change.
As of Monday, just days before the new A-League season is due to start, Sydneys Daily and Sunday Telegraph will make the switch over to football.
It may seem like a minor alteration, but for the game in Australia its a significant step. These are papers that still sell more copies than any other in the nation's biggest city.
The change however, is unlikely to be universal.
Melbournes Herald Sun - still the paper with the highest circulation in the country - is unlikely to re-brand, ditto the Adelaide Advertiser; while Perths Sunday Times is reportedly still debating as to whether to make the change or not. Online, however, the re-styling will be across the board.
Of course, a name is only a name. Many will continue to call it "Soccer" wherever they live - and proponents of "Football" should accept that. No-one has the right to dictate which terms should be used on an individual basis.
But that courtesy should also be extended to those who prefer "Football", too. Its no longer enough to say "in Australia, its soccer" because for many, it simply isnt.
Similarly, claiming historical lineage ("Soccer" was coined in England as a shorter form of asSOCiation football) is a flawed argument, as the rugby codes were similarly referred to as "Rugger" in days gone by. That term dropped out of use many moons ago.
And so it may be - eventually - with "Soccer". Have we now reached the stage where people's preference for "Football" has reached critical mass - whereby those in charge of reporting on the game in the mainstream media have taken notice?
"Soccer" will doubtless remain as a nickname for the game - and the "Socceroos" is a much-loved term of reference for the national team. But the official name of the sport is football. The international body is FIFA, not FISA. The region in which Australia plays is the Asian Football Confederation - and the governing body here is FFA, not SFA.
There may be some way to go before the adoption of the term becomes universal in Australia, but seven years after the governing body took that bold step, it appears the mainstream media is gradually coming round to the process of change, too.
http://www.news.com.au/entertainmen...hing-of-the-past/story-e6frfmq9-1226486030704
