Every four years Americans pay more attention to what the USA and Canada call soccer and the rest of the world call football. With the FIFA World Cup currently underway and because the USA is a co-host of the tournament this year, World Cup fever has reached a new high.

This month Georgia is hosting matches in Atlanta and at the time of writing the land of my birth, England has made it to the quarterfinals, and the USA is still in the tournament having made it into the “Round of 16”.

I have been amused by the reactions of British people visiting the USA for the first time to watch World Cup matches here and have been reminiscing about when I first crossed the pond. Although I now take for granted the tasty food, free refills and of course ranch dressing in restaurants as well as the size of grocery stores and the vast selection of goods available, it reminds me of how amazing all this seemed to me when my husband first introduced me to the USA in the mid-1990s. The most heartwarming thing to me has been about how worldwide visitors to our shores recognize how welcoming Americans are, especially in the southern USA. In addition to the friendliness, the sheer optimism of the average American is far greater than that demonstrated by most British people where a more stoic and cynical attitude is common. As a naturalized American citizen since 2012, I am thrilled to be celebrating the 250th anniversary of this great nation and delighted that the World Cup is bringing nations together during a time in history when there is so much political divisiveness.

When I first came to the USA, I didn’t realize that here, football means what the British call American football and soccer is used to describe what people in the land of my birth call football or the “beautiful game”.

I did not know until recently that the word “soccer” was invented in England.

In the late 1800s there were two main versions of football.

One was Rugby Football and the other was Association Football. Around that time, students at Oxford University had a slang habit of shortening words and adding “-er” to the end. “Rugby” became “rugger” and “Association” became “assoc”, which I suppose was pronounced “a-sock” which eventually had the “-er” added to evolve into “soccer.”

Other examples of this in use in England today is a five-pound and tenpound note, knowns very commonly as “a fiver” and “a tenner”.

Although there is evidence of many ancient civilizations playing team games involving a ball, the first known game which involved kicking a ball took place In China in the 3rd and 2nd century BC under the name cuju. In the Ancient Roman Empire, soldiers brought a type of football to the British islands.

However, an early form of chaotic football today referred to as “mob football” really took off in England in the 12th century although it was much more violent and rough than today’s game.

There were few rules and the game often involved hundreds of people on each team moving a ball long distances across or even between villages. The impact of these games would cause damage to the towns in which they were played and sometimes death to participants.

Not unsurprisingly this forerunner of modern football was forbidden for several centuries.

By the 17th century football-like games were being played on the streets of London only to be forbidden again in 1835. However, this was too late to stop its popularity as early football had been established in the prestigious, fee-paying public- school system for sons of the wealthy.

Girls and women were for a long time excluded from participating in games and the first official women’s game took place in Inverness, Scotland in 1888.

For a long time, there was no clear distinction between football and rugby until 1863 when the first Football association was formed in England. At this time, it was decided that carrying the ball with the hands wasn’t allowed and the game was divided into two: association football and rugby.

While rugby became seen as more of an upper-class type of sport, football became popular entertainment for the British working class. An important step for the emergence of teams was the industrialization of England that led to larger groups of people meeting at places such as factories, pubs and churches.

Football teams were established in the larger cities, and the new railroads could bring them to other cities. Unprecedented amounts of spectators, up to 30,000, would see the big matches in the late 19th century. The game became popular across the world as the British colonized many countries and in South America and India football became extremely popular.

I will leave you with a quote from legendary and hugely successful 20th century British football manager, Bill Shankly: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death…. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that.”

God Bless America and enjoy the World Cup!

Lesley grew up in London, England and made Georgia her home in 2009. She can be contacted at lesley@lesleyfrancispr. com or via her PR and marketing agency at www.lesleyfrancispr. com.