I have often been frowned on by people when I refer to the sport as “soccer”. I never knew how much people here love football. And with these lovers of football, I have something special to share.
But first, let me tell you why Americans and Australians sometimes call it soccer.
When the game as you love it was invented and codified, there were other forms of the game which were (and still are) being played under different rules written in different towns or countries.
To distinguish the different footballs from each other, people would refer to the game played under rules written by the football Union at Rugby as Rugby Football Union or simply Rugby. The game played under rules written in Scotland and Ireland was referred to as Gaelic Football.
Australian Rules Football is derived from Gaelic Football, and American Football is derived from some form of Rugby.
The football that is the most popular sport in the world had its rules established under an organisation called the Football Association – after which the famous F.A. Cup is named – and in England at the turn of the 19th century had to be referred to as Association Football in order to distinguish it from the other football codes in conversation.
So say you played Association Football in those early days, and you wanted to know if the bloke next to you shared your interest, you’d ask if he played Association Football too, and that’d be a bit of a mouthful, so you’d have called it Assoc. Football, or Soccer.
OK, now that the history lesson is out of the way, let me tell you why you should be happy this weekend apart from the fact that it’s the longest weekend of this half of the year.
1. You no longer have to sign up for Singtel Mio just to watch the Premier League. The new cross carriage rules (thank you MDA – this is the best thing you’ve done as an Authority).
2. Even though it costs money to watch it still, Starhub has given the green light to give all subscribers a $30 a month rebate over the next two Premier League seasons. This applies to all StarhubTV customers.
3. You no longer have to tolerate lags and freezes on your games (heehee) and because StarhubTV will put up all Premier League games in full HD Glory Glory Man United, please make sure you switch your set top boxes to the HD sets soon.
How to watch BPL on StarhubTV:
1. Get your NRIC and StarhubTV Subscription ID from your Starhub bill or cal 1633 for it to be SMSd to you.
2. Bring them to any Singtel shop and sign up for BPL cross carried on StarhubTV.
3. You will automatically receive your $30 monthly rebate in your Starhub monthly bill because Starhub loves every football loving bro.
See www.starhub.com/therealbros for more details on how to bring football home to the green playing fields where they belong.
Pro-tip: Sign up before Monday 12 Aug to make sure you catch the season opener on 17 Aug.
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