Dawgs By Nature
Every four years, the men’s World Cup becomes the globe’s main focus in the sporting realm, pitting countries against each other. It also features the world’s most popular sport: football. For fans of the Cleveland Browns, football and football (or futbol) are either shared passions or very divergent sports.
The game of “football” began with the Romans as a way to keep their soldiers in shape and sharp. The game has since evolved into the sport it is today. In 1863, a set of standard rules was formed in England and called “Association Football.”
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The United States Men’s World Cup has one game left in its group stage, but has already qualified to advance to the round of 32. This brings a lot of attention to the U.S. team, which has struggled mightily in past tournaments and rarely advances. Keep in mind that the USA team hasn’t played any of the big dogs yet, such as Spain, Argentina, France, England, or Germany.
The term “soccer” came out of the slang use of “Association,” with younger players adding an “er” to most things. If you surfed, you were a surf-er, or if you played golf, you were a golf-er. If you played Association Football, you were an assoc-er. That later became shortened to “socc-er.”
Everywhere in the world, this game is called “football” or “futbol.” In North America, the same game is called “soccer.”
Like any other exceptional sporting event, such as the Super Bowl, sites for the World Cup are highly competitive. It not only brings throngs of fans into the country and spends money on hotels, rental cars, Ubers, restaurants, and clothing stores, but the notoriety and television coverage alone can catapult a sleepy city into a worldwide tourist destination.
Although the stadium that the Cleveland Browns use, Huntington Bank Field, is suitable for the World Cup, the City of Cleveland didn’t even get a nibble as a host city.
This World Cup features host cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. A long list of potential sites was first discussed, then pared down to a short list, and finally, 11 U.S. cities, three Mexican, and two Canadian sites were selected.
There were two U.S. cities situated close to Cleveland that made the final list: Detroit and Cincinnati.
How football (soccer) arrived in the United States was through Ivy League colleges and universities.
In the 1800s, every American college played football (soccer), as most students were European immigrants and football was the sport they grew up with. Harvard University predominantly played rugby as a large percentage of its athletes were schooled in England. Other universities were intrigued by the sport and enjoyed that this game had more contact and was rough. Eventually, more and more colleges began to switch over to rugby as their main sport.
Rugby came from football (soccer). The official name of this sport is “Rugby Football.” Rugby started at the Rugby School in England, a boys’ school. While...
