Football

This article deals with the history and development of the different sports around the world known as "football". For links to articles on each of these codes of football, please see the list in the Football today section of this article.

Football today

Use of the word "football" in English-speaking countries

The word "football", when used in reference to a specific game can mean any one of those described above. Because of this, much friendly controversy has occurred over the term football, primarily because it is used in different ways in different parts of the English-speaking world.

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In most English-speaking countries, the word "football" usually refers to Association football, also known as soccer. Of the 48 national FIFA affiliates in which English is an official or primary language, only five — Canada, the Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Samoa and the United States — use soccer in their name, while the rest use football. However, even in the countries where football is the official name of association football, this name may be at odds with common usage.

Related Topics:
Association football - FIFA - English - Canada - Marshall Islands - New Zealand - Samoa - United States

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In other countries or regions within them, the word "football" may refer to American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, or one of the two codes of rugby football: rugby league or rugby union.

Related Topics:
American football - Australian rules football - Canadian football - Gaelic football - Rugby football - Rugby league - Rugby union

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The different codes are listed below and are described more fully in their own articles.

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Games descended from the FA rules of 1863

• Association football, also known as soccer.
• Indoor varieties of Association football:
• Five-a-side football - played throughout the world under various rules including:
• Futsal — the FIFA-approved Five-a-side indoor game
• Indoor soccer — the six-a-side indoor game as played in North America
• Paralympic Football — Association football for disabled competitors.
• Beach soccer — football played on sand, also known as Sand Soccer
• Pickup football an informal game normally played without a goalkeeper, and that uses bags to demarcate a smaller net.

Games descended from Rugby School rules

• Rugby football
• Rugby League
• Rugby Union
• Rugby Sevens
• Touch Rugby — a form of rugby union without tackles.
• Tag Rugby a form of Touch Rugby, in which a velcro tag is taken to indicate a tackle.
• Touch football (rugby league) — usually known simply as "Touch" or "Touch football".
• OzTag — a form of Rugby League replacing tackles with tags.
• Wheelchair Rugby
• Wheelchair Power Tag Rugby
• Quad Rugby
• American football — called "football" in the United States, and "gridiron" in Australia and New Zealand.
• Arena football — an indoor version of American football
• Touch football (American) — non-tackle American football.
• Flag football — non-tackle American football, like touch football, in which a token is taken to indicate a tackle.
• Canadian football — called simply "football" in Canada.
• Canadian flag football — non-tackle Canadian football.

Irish and Australian varieties of football

• Gaelic football
• Australian rules football (or Aussie rules) — sometimes (erroneously) referred to as "AFL"
• Auskick — a version of Australian rules designed for young children
• International Rules — a compromise code used for games between Gaelic and Australian Rules players.
• Austus — a compromise between Australian rules and American football, invented in Melbourne during World War II.

Surviving Mediæval ball games

• Traditional Shrove Tuesday matches in the UK -- annual town- or village-wide football games with their own rules. Alternative names include mob football, Shrovetide football and folk football.
• Alnwick in Northumberland
• Ashbourne in Derbyshire (known as Royal Shrovetide Football)
• Atherstone in Warwickshire
• Corfe Castle in Dorset The Shrove Tuesday Football Ceremony of the Purbeck Marblers
• Haxey in Lincolnshire (the Haxey Hood, actually played on Epiphany)
• Hurling the Silver Ball takes place at St Columb Major in Cornwall
• Sedgefield in County Durham
• In Scotland the Ba game ("Ball Game") is still popular around Christmas and Hogmanay at:
• Duns, Berwickshire
• Scone, Perthshire
• Kirkwall in the Orkneys
• Outside the UK other Mediæval games include:
• Calcio Fiorentino — a modern revival of Renaissance football from 16th century Florence.

For details of extinct varieties of football invented and/or played during the Middle Ages in Europe, see the medieval football article.

Related Topics:
Middle Ages - Europe - Medieval football

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Other surviving public school games

• Eton Field Game
• Eton Wall Game
• Harrow Football
• Winchester Football

More recent inventions and derivations

• Based on Mediaeval football:
• Murder Ball
• Based on FA rules:
• Cubbies
• Three sided football
• Triskelion
• Based on Rugby:
• Scuffleball
• Force em' Backs

Tabletop games and other recreations

• Based on FA rules:
• Soccer computer games
• Subbuteo
• Blow football
• Foosball (also known as table football/soccer, babyfoot, bar football or gettone)
• Fantasy football (soccer)
• Based on Rugby:
• Paper football
• Based on American Football:
• Blood Bowl
• Fantasy football (American)