That Bloke In The Big Smoke

Earlier today I tweeted about a unique solution the Turkish Football Federation had applied to punish Fenerbahçe for a pitch invasion during a pre-season friendly. Instead of the usual alternative of playing matches behind closed doors in front of an empty stadium, they decided to bar men altogether and open up the gates free of charge to only women, and children below the age of 12. And guess what? 41,000 women and children filled the stadium to capacity for the Istanbul-based club's Super Liga match against Manisaspor. The match ended 1-1. In future I'd like all football associations to apply the same punishment. It's great to see a stadium full of passionate female football fans, even if it sounded a bit like a Bieber concert.

I became aware of this a few years ago but most people still think it is. I was reminded of it while watching the latest edition of the newly-instituted, web-only Match of the Day 3 programme on Monday mornings, which featured as its guest the British-based American goalkeeper, Brad Friedel. Neither he nor Lee Dixon (a regular analyst and former England international) were aware of soccer's true origins. Therefore I reckon it's important to spread the word across the length and breadth of this country and beyond. Many Britons (and I've noticed it's not just those who follow the sport!) are quick to dismiss any use of the term soccer as an Americanism, as though it were a dirty word. But as Wikipedia amply demonstrates, this misnomer couldn't be further from the truth. Soccer is well and truly British. In fact it was widely used by the mainstream media until at least the 1970s, but quite what happened after that is somewhat of a mystery. Although interestingly enough, according to the Hansard archives, the use of the term soccer by MPs has increased in recent decades (even as football remains the most popular term in Parliament, the media and certainly amongst the hoi polloi)!

EDIT: It's worth pointing out that according to Hansard, the earliest mention of football in Parliament was in 1824, while the earliest mention of soccer (and rugger) was in 1927.

(Note: Even if you don't like MotD or football in general, that programme is worth watching alone for what is possibly the "best" own goal ever scored... by who else but Lee Dixon himself!)