this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2026
176 points (81.0% liked)
Casual UK
4649 readers
401 users here now
Casual UK
A casual place for banter and anything that doesn't fit in anywhere else.
Have chat and a natter. Talk about anything and everything that's not political!
Keep it casual.
Rules
- No politics.
- Be friendly.
- Be kind & civil.
- No Generative AI Content
- Follow Feddit.uk site rules.
Other communities:
Here:
Elsewhere:
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Yes it was called football because the peasants played it on their feet while the nobles played polo and other equestrian sports. There's a huge documented history, several Kings in English history all had a take on the issue. Some thought it was awful because they hated seeing their peasants creating a spectacle and sometimes they got hurt and couldn't work, but other kings leaned into it and used it to gain favor with the lower classes.
According to wikipedia, what you claim is true but also there is documented history of the "foot" part coming up because of the kicking of the ball from really far back
The truth is we do not seem to know which of the 2 sources truly directed the current name... very likely both contributed
That doesn't make sense because most forms of football (rugby and american etc) use mostly the hands to carry the ball. The name was never about kicking, it was about playing on foot, until John Cleese made a joke about it. There's sources going back to the middle ages about it.
The word "football" precedes all those modern sports you are referring to.
As I said, from the wikipedia article, it seems there is a bit of both
"As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all modern football codes, these medieval games involved more handling of the ball than kicking it.[39][3]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football