I shall now remove my tongue from my cheek, my don't the colonials get pedantic....
I'm over sixty, so apparently we Brits called our football soccer till about 50 years ago, well I've followed FOOTBALL for as long as I can remember, I never heard our football called Soccer till I moved to Australia. One of my Grandparents was Football mad all his life, not once did he ever refer to footie as soccer.
Also 'officially' Rugby Union and League might have had the football tagged on the title, but our public have never called it such, in a conversation it would either be Rugger/Rugby(Union) or League.
I'm guessing that you Colonists got it from the Aussies. Down under, they've got Australian Rules Football and Rugby, both Union and League all three are called Footie and Association is called Soccer. Where Aussies got it from I haven't a clue.
I'm over sixty, so apparently we Brits called our football soccer till about 50 years ago, well I've followed FOOTBALL for as long as I can remember, I never heard our football called Soccer till I moved to Australia. One of my Grandparents was Football mad all his life, not once did he ever refer to footie as soccer.
Also 'officially' Rugby Union and League might have had the football tagged on the title, but our public have never called it such, in a conversation it would either be Rugger/Rugby(Union) or League.
I'm guessing that you Colonists got it from the Aussies. Down under, they've got Australian Rules Football and Rugby, both Union and League all three are called Footie and Association is called Soccer. Where Aussies got it from I haven't a clue.