The subs at the community paper I write for (Coromandel's finest - the Hauraki Herald)�keep changing�football to the "s" word whenever I write a football story.�I even put Football Fever in a photo caption kicker and they changed it Soccer Fever - getting rid of my clever alliteration.
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Waikato Times uses the "s" word too. It's shoddy journalism if you ask me. Perhaps I should go on strike.
Write a story about the difference between football and rugby and see if they can change that. Mention why soccer is an abbreviated slang word for association football but not used by fans and that Rugger is an abbreviated slang word for rugby union but is not used by rugby fans. Explain why football is the first sport invented and by birthright it has first dibs on the word football and rugby is a spin off of that football game and only has the name "football" by proxy and not by usage. Rugby people hardly called Rugby as football and there is no real reason for confusion. Also that old incident over a rugby cup with a round ball on it should show that rugby people don't ask for cups made for football because makers assumed it was for football and not rugby. etc etc [plenty of examples out there.]
It would be hard for them to change anything because it is quite clear the intention of the article and if they change it, the article reads nonsense. Also it provoke a bit of public interest for the paper which they should like.
I think that there at least one person in that paper is an old rugbyhead who does not want football to take the name because it threats his dumb ego.
Give a shot, because as long as you stick to your guns, they would have to relent.
Actually football is a generic name for these types of games; Association Football, American Football, Rugby Union Football, Rugby League Football, Australian Rules Football. In the US, the football they refer to is American Football, in The southern Australia states it is Rules, Britain - it is 'soccer'. You're getting your tits in a tangle over nothing, if someone refers to the game as soccer, I know exactly what game they are talking about, not so with the use of the name football or footie.
