[BoomerSooner]

R2C, I'm not arguing the origins of any game, the validity of the rules, or whether or not they make any sense. My point is that the rule set by which you are playing does in fact define the game you are playing. Just because IFAB/FIFA is responsible for the rules that have the greatest world-wide acceptance does not mean other rulesets are not worthy of being called soccer. If I came up with a rule set that allowed the GK to handle the ball anywhere behind the center line, I could still call the game soccer. I probably wouldn't have enough support in my rules to garner any widespread acceptance, but as long as the general principles of my game were close enough to soccer, I doubt many would see my game and say "I have no idea what to call that, its like no other game I've ever seen". Most would call it soccer and then say "but that's BoomerSooner's version". While this is an extreme example, I think the minor safety differences in most cases aren't even worthy of the comment "but that's NFHS's version of soccer". Maybe those in the know will know the difference, but in the end it is still soccer.

I know I quoted you, but I guess my point is arguing the statement of Kusskke that all the various additions may cause confusion as to what game is actually being played. As a basketball official, I'm a huge fan of a single ruleset to get rid of all the fanboy's that watch NBA on Sunday afternoon and think all those rules apply on Friday night. However, I'm not going to say the NBA (or NFHS) isn't basketball.