soap scrimmage n. especially in non-professional American football, a practice game for which the cost of admittance is a bar of bath soap. Also soap game. Editorial Note: Other items needed by a sports team are sometimes substituted as the price of admittance. This term is occasionally applied to any scrimmage or pre-season match, regardless of the requirements for admittance. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Jim in Columbia, South Carolina, has noticed sportscasters’ use of the phrase on the season with reference to a period of time. This construction shows up in the sports pages as early as the 1880s, first referring to a team’s revenue and...
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
Soap Scrimmage, does that mean that Coach Merle “Bones Nay is the originator of the term, or the concept of the “Soap Scrimmage?
Coach Nay is the earliest citation of the term 1962. I played for Coach Nay in 1962. Great Leader and motivator.