Toronto FC

Published by Toronto Mike on April 30, 2007 @ 16:18 in Sports

soccerAdmittedly, I've been asleep at the MLS switch. Although I did write about our new Major League Soccer team once, I tend to zone out during Toronto FC updates because I quite simply don't care.

I don't care, but that doesn't mean I can't complain about them. Today's complaint is at least a year late, but it's better late than never. I don't understand why our nickname is Toronto FC.

I understand FC stands for Football Club, and it's a popular nickname in parts of the world where soccer is known as football, but here in Toronto we don't call soccer football. We call football football, and it's a very different sport.

Is MLSE just trying to appeal to those who left their hearts overseas or are they pretending the other football doesn't exist? Can there possibly be a market for professional soccer in this city? Could I care any less?

I miss the Blizzard.

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9 Responses to "Toronto FC"

Ed Lee
May 1, 2007 / 11:28

come on Mike, there are only two countries in the world who call football "soccer"...

i'm not sure how anyone can call NFL or CFL "football" when the ball actually touching the foot is an afterthought.

Cultural differences aside, from TFC's first four performances, I don't think you'll have to worry about it for too much longer...

Ed

Toronto Mike
May 1, 2007 / 11:30

You're right, only two countries call football soccer, but Canada is one of them.

That's my point...

G-Mo
May 1, 2007 / 17:23

Toronto FC is not a nickname... FC is an abbreviation of the team’s complete name – Toronto Football Club... Habs for the Montreal Canadiens is a nickname; The Bee's for Brentford FC is a nickname... and as for using FC, I think most people in the city of Toronto understood what FC stood for (hey, they figured it out in Texas – FC Dallas!). In North America – specifically Canada – the popularity of “soccer” is growing so fast that other sports complexes are having to be taken down or converted to pitches to accommodate all the people who want to play (that includes at least 2 hockey arena’s in the GTA over the last couple of years I am told!)… Let’s not forget that it’s all governed by FIFA (International Federation of Association Football)!

Toronto Mike
May 1, 2007 / 21:33

I'm sure I'm fighting a losing battle here, but should the team name be Toronto Soccer Club?

Ed Lee
May 2, 2007 / 11:38

but calling "football" "soccer" is clearly wrong. at least this is going some way to correcting this!

Ed

Toronto Mike
May 2, 2007 / 11:44

But then what do we call football?

G-Mo
May 2, 2007 / 11:49

The word "soccer" comes from an alteration of "assoc.", which is an
abbreviation of "association football".

Anonymous
May 2, 2007 / 11:53

In some countries they call more than one sport football... In the UK public (private) school boys call Rugby football, in Australia they call 4 different sports football or footy (Auzzie Rules, Rugby Leauge, Rugby Union and Associated Football)...

Toronto Mike
May 3, 2007 / 09:32

So at some point we started calling this sport soccer... and we still call it soccer. The local leagues, the schools, the kids playing the game, they're all calling it soccer.

So again, why is it Toronto FC?

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