(07-02-2013, 07:39 PM)Live-Free-Or-Pie link Wrote: [ -> ][quote author=FlyingMongoose link=topic=7029.msg268957#msg268957 date=1372811603]
We're talking FIFA world cup, right? You know, real football?
Football or baseball
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Soccer (real football) has 90 minutes (or more) of play, no stopping, and if the game is delayed during play, more time gets added on at the end of the half at the discretion of the referee.
It also is played during any weather.
The only pads in soccer are shin guards, my father use to have a dirt bike, he once drove off a cliff and was thrown into a tree by it, never once broke a bone. Only time in his entire life he ever broke a bone, was playing soccer (Real football).
Oh yeah, soccer is considered a contact sport (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football <-- Reference, side bar: Contact: "Yes"
And yes contact is more heavily involved in soccer than most people think. While the object is to play the ball I can't tell you how many times that during those same "play the ball" situations did I end up with elbows, shoulders, knees, feet, etc in my side, ribs, stomach, etc. Yeah a lot of the players out there "dive" (which by the way is now something that can get you yellow or red carded), but a lot of it is real too.
In football you can get suspended by the coach, manager, league, etc.
Soccer if you get red carded you are ejected from the game, you stay out, your team plays a man down, and in most high end leagues are not allowed to play at all for 2 games, and many players who play at a pro level get paid on a per-game basis, or bonuses based on performance or goals. In soccer there are no "review of last plays" or any stuff like that because the game doesn't have time for that shit, it needs to keep going, there may be a quick discussion between two officials in soccer that may change a direction of a kick or throw-in, but ultimately, game still goes on.
And lastly, here's the major difference between (real) football, and (american) football from the guiding principles of each game:
American Football has Rules
As a (formerly) registered referee with numerous copies of the hand book
Association Football (real Football) has laws, they are not rules, they are not suggestions, they are LAWS, the handbook is called "The LAWS of the Game". (Ref:
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/footballde...index.html)
Oh and a common nomenclature mistake in Soccer (real football), the law is the offside law, not offsides (Law 11; pg 35). Offsides is a Hockey and (American) Football term.
I will not get too deep into the nomenclature argument as the British argument of "handegg" is stupid, considering rugby, which is pretty popular over there (but moreso in australia/new zealand). I know where the nomenclature comes from (12 inch end to end), (real) football is named for playing the ball at the feet, it does make sense. Soccer's name is a shortening of "Association Football" and is also a term the british came up with (so there, have some fuel for that argument).
And here's the biggest benefit to soccer (real football) over any other sport, and at the same time considered the "poor mans sport". You don't need much to play the game, you need a few buddies and a ball and not even necessarily a goal, but you can have one. I read somewhere it use to be played with skulls, and beach soccer is by far one of the most strenuous (and good exercise) I have ever had the pleasure of doing.
Soccer (real football) leagues also have a zero racism policy within all league levels, no matter the league (under FIFA) if a racial slur is uttered toward another player that is an immediate red card, AND it has a respect for the game policy. In the very early days of the sport, the players typically only had one ball, and while it wasn't some expensive material it was nice enough to play competitively, if during the early days the ball would go into the audience the ball would get thrown back to the players to go back into play. This is obviously no longer necessary, but it is still done out of respect for the game.
Lastly, apart from the United States, as far as I am aware Soccer is the ONLY sport to include MANDATORY fan separation within stadiums. This is due to the riots in 1986 that killed 80 people over a soccer game, this also gives soccer the highest direct death toll in a single event.
Anyway, I'd love to get in on a FIFA World Cup Fantasy league! :p