Association football is the game being played right now in the 2026 World Cup. In some countries, they call it football, but in countries where they play more than one kind of football, the word ‘soccer’ is often used. What most people, including the writer, until he gave more thought to the subject, didn’t realise is that the word comes from ‘association’. Then, googling the word ‘soccer’, one was told significantly more. ‘Soccer’ did originally come from ‘association’ to distinguish it from rugby football. Then the posh and frivolous university students at Oxford and Cambridge of the late 1800s enjoyed both removing and adding letters - so ‘rugby’ became ‘rugger’ – while ‘association’, already shortened to ‘soccer’, became ‘soccer’.
Here endeth the lesson. What is rather fascinating is the continuing tendency to shorten personal names. Parents, not wishing to have the shortening of a child’s name, as in friends reducing Samuel to Sam, they would have Sam the name at the christening. Only to find Sam’s friends later, when unable to shorten his name, would lengthen it to Sammy. Will became Willy, Rose would be Rosie and Jo would be Joey. The great footballer George Best, no doubt to his parents’ regret, was always called Georgie.
Enough of that. This is serious football time. It’s a game that goes back a long, long way. The writer played a lot of soccer and proud that in the days when he played, the ball had just recently become round. (You have to know the social history of the globe to enjoy that one). He played soccer at primary school and rugger at high school, though soccer was still played at break times, with a tennis ball, and in school shoes on concrete. Parents were unable to understand why shoes wore out so quickly; they were never enlightened on that one.
Sadly, a few miles down the road a century earlier, young William Ellis, being fed up with kicking the ball, or perhaps kicking his opponent, simply picked up the ball and started running with it. That happened at an institution called Rugby School in the Midlands of England. You can guess what they called the new sport, but not why they changed the shape of the ball from round to oval. Good job that didn’t happen to the globe as well. In more powerful hands, fortunately.
Now we are in 2026 and the World Cup is being played largely in the USA. Mexico is a little peeved because they are staging only 13 matches compared to the 78 in the USA. Based on size and facilities, that might be considered a fair allocation, though you have to remember that it was in Mexico that the 1970 World Cup brought to the fore arguably the greatest player of all time. That was the Brazilian, Pelé. While in the 1986 World Cup, a young Argentinian, Diego Maradona, one afternoon made the England players look a bit static. These were two great players who brought their respective countries to displacing, once and for all, two national teams previously expected to dominate world football forever. They were Hungary and Uruguay. Do times not change?
The writer saw both players on their respective ‘big days’. In all sports, standards have improved – equipment, diet and training techniques have had their impact. However, it was the ability of those two players, relative to others of their era, that was so conspicuous. The writer goes back further, having seen England win the World Cup in 1966 when the star striker, Jimmy Greaves, got injured and was replaced, ostensibly for one match, by Geoff Hurst, who played so well in the semi-final that he was chosen instead of Greaves for the final. He became a hero of the day in the match and is now the last surviving member of that World Cup final team. Later becoming Sir Geoff Hurst and thus rewarded twice!
Go back even further, and you will find a player overshadowed at the time by the great Sir Stanley Matthews. This player was Tom Finney, the forgotten hero of his era. Finney was the only player ever to play for England in all five positions on the forward line (teams played 5-3-2-1 formation in those days). That showed an incredible degree of versatility, roughly (only he wasn’t rough) the equivalent of two striker positions, two midfield and two wings on opposite sides. Oops, that’s six. Never booked or sent off in his entire career! A plumber during the week and Preston North End on Saturday, then finally club president. His achievements were so understated that decades later, a large group of journalists publicly put Finney’s career in perspective. He promptly got knighted at the tender age of 76. Rest in peace, Sir Tom.
There are wonderful players in present-day football. We shall be seeing Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in their last World Cup event, as well as the impact of the more recent arrivals, such as Kylian Mbappé. Despite being somewhat tainted by the allegations about FIFA and the dreadfully high prices of match tickets, it is destined to be a memorable event - starting with Cape Verde - which we so fervently hope coincides with sustained peace in the Middle East.
Association football is the game being played right now in the 2026 World Cup. In some countries, they call it football, but in countries where they play more than one kind of football, the word ‘soccer’ is often used.