Posted by Robert Hill on May 22, 2004 at 23:27:00 from 195.92.168.167 user eclrh.
In Reply to: Re: 15 vs. 11 posted by Peter H on May 22, 2004 at 19:19:11:
Peter H wrote:
'Rugby Union' was referred to at one time as 'football'. The word still survives in the initials of many rugby clubs, ie 'RUFC' - Rugby Union Football Club.
Even today Rugby Union is still a type of football. The identification of football with soccer is only a convention, a default, not something absolute, even in countries like Britain where American and Australian football are not played. Soccer clubs often have AFC in their names. But I'm not aware of any section of British society today where the default meaning of the word "football" is rugby. What I was wondering was whether at boy's public schools, in John's day, the usual default meaning of football was rugby.