soccer ball

Each different code of football uses a different ball which belong to one of two different basic shapes:

• A sphere used in association football (soccer) as well as Gaelic football;
• An approximate prolate spheroid, which may be either:
  • those with more rounded ends used in rugby union, rugby league and Australian rules football
  • the more pointed type used in American football and Canadian football

American and Canadian football (gridiron)

In North America, the term football refers to a ball which is used to play American football or Canadian football. Nearly a prolate spheroid, it is slightly pointed at the ends, unlike the more elliptical rugby ball. The Canadian football is slightly less prolate than the American ball and has a closer resemblance to a rugby ball.

The ball is about 11 inches (28 cm) long and about 22 inches (56 cm) in circumference at the center. The exterior of the ball is made of leather, which is required in professional and collegiate football. Footballs used in recreation may be made of rubber or plastic materials.

Leather panels are usually tanned to a natural brown color, which is usually required in professional leagues and collegiate play. At least one manufacturer uses leather that has been tanned to provide a "tacky" grip in dry or wet conditions.

The leather is usually stamped with a pebble-grain texture to help players grip the ball. Some or all of the panels may be stamped with the manufacturer's name, league or conference logos, signatures, and other markings.

Four panels or pieces of leather or plastic are required for each football. After a series of quality control inspections for weight and blemishes, workers begin the actual manufacturing process.

Two of the panels are perforated along adjoining edges, so that they can be laced together. One of these lacing panels receives an additional perforation and reinforcements in its center, to hold the inflation valve.

Each panel is attached to an interior lining. The four panels are then stitched together in an "inside-out" manner. The edges with the lacing holes, however, are not stitched together. The ball is then turned right side out by pushing the panels through the lacing hole.

A polyurethane or rubber lining called a bladder is then inserted through the lacing hole.

Polyvinyl chloride or leather laces are inserted through the perforations, to provide a grip for holding, hiking and passing the football.

Before play, the ball is inflated to an air pressure of 12.5–13.5 psi (86–93 kPa). The ball weighs 14–15 ounces (397–425 g).

Regardless of the material used in manufacturing, the ball is sometimes colloquially referred to as a pigskin.

Association football (soccer)

See also: History of association football balls

Dimensions

The ball used in football (soccer) is called a football or soccer ball. Law 2 of the game specifies the ball to be an air-filled sphere with a circumference of 68–70 cm (or 27–28 inches), a weight of 410–450 g (or 14–16 ounces), inflated to a pressure of 60–110 kPa (or 8.5–15.6 psi), and covered in leather or "other suitable" material. ^[1] The weight specified for a ball is the dry weight: older balls often became significantly heavier in the course of a match played in wet weather. The standard ball is a Size 5. Smaller sizes exist; Size 3 is standard for team handball; others are used in underage games or as novelty items.

Construction

Most modern balls are stitched from 32 panels of waterproofed leather or plastic: 12 regular pentagons and 20 regular hexagons. The 32-panel configuration is similar to the polyhedron known as the truncated icosahedron, except that it is more spherical, because the faces bulge due to the pressure of the air inside. The first 32-panel ball was marketed by Select in the 1950s in Denmark. This configuration became common throughout Continental Europe in the 1960s, and was publicised worldwide by the Adidas Telstar, the official ball of the 1970 World Cup.

Older balls were usually stitched from 18 oblong non-waterproof leather panels, similar to the design of modern volleyballs and Gaelic footballs, and laced to allow access to the internal air bladder. This configuration is still common, as are more novel ones, such as the 26-panel Mitre PRO 100T, and the 2006 FIFA World Cup football, the 14-panel Adidas +Teamgeist (a truncated octahedron). There are also indoor footballs, which are made of one or two pieces of plastic. Often these have designs printed on them to resemble a stitched leather ball.

Patterns

The design of black pentagon/white hexagon was intended for maximum visibility on monchrome television sets. It has become the archetype, still used for generic balls and symbolic representations of the game. However, premium branded balls have other more elaborate patterns. The Nike Total 90 Aerow has rings intended to aid goalkeepers to determine the spin on the ball. "Official replicas" of the Teamgeist have its 14-panel pattern superimposed on a cheaper 28-panel ball. The official ball of the UEFA Champions League, the Adidas Finale has stars on the ball. Older balls were monochrome: originally brown; and later white, especially for floodlit matches. Brightly-coloured balls are used on snow-covered pitches.....

Child labour

About 80% of association footballs are made in Pakistan. 75% of these (60% of all world production) are made in the city of Sialkot. In the past child labor was often used in the production of the balls. In 1996, during the European championship, activists decided to press this issue. This eventually led to the Atlanta Agreement, which forced ball manufacturers to make sure no child labor was involved in the fabrication of their products. This also led to a centralisation of production, which on the one hand would make it easier for the Independent Monitoring Association for Child Labor (IMAC^[2]) - an organization created to watch over the Atlanta Agreement - to make sure no child labor occurred, on the other hand often forced workers to commute further to get to work. Now the production takes place primarily in small workshops and factories and is now totally Child-Labour free. ^[3]

2006 World Cup

The official World Cup Footballs for Germany 2006 matches were made in Thailand. For the first time since 1970, Adidas decided to get the “match” balls made outside Pakistan, as they were machine pressed instead of handmade. However, the “to be sold” balls were made in Pakistan by hand.

The city of Sialkot in Pakistan had been supplying the official World Cup balls as well as 80% of the total footballs consumed in the entire world. This year, although the balls used in the World Cup did not come from Pakistan, the World Cup balls marketed by Adidas were made in Pakistan.

This year Adidas manufactured 32 million "Teamgeist" balls in Pakistan where as the quantity required was roughly 60 million. The factories in Sialkot even today run over time shifts to finish the orders that have shot up due to the World Cup. The reason Adidas depends so much on the Sialkot sports manufacturing industry is for its superior quality balls which Adidas has been able to maintain through its constant and personal supervision, training and inspection of the manufacturers.

Australian football

The football used in Australian football is similar to a rugby ball but generally slightly smaller and more rounded. A regulation football is 720–730 mm (28.3–28.7 in) in circumference, and 545–555 mm (21.5–21.9 in) transverse circumference, and inflated to a pressure of 62–76kPa (9–11 psi). In the AFL, the balls are red for day matches and yellow for night matches.

Brands of balls used include Burley, Ross Faulkner, and the brand used in the Australian Football League, the Sherrin.

Gaelic football

Gaelic football is played with a spherical ball, roughly 25.4 cm (10 in) in diameter and 68.6 cm (27 in) to 73.7 cm (29 in) in circumference.[1] A dry ball weighs between 370 g (13 oz) and 425 grams (15 oz). Gaelic footballs are also the standard balls used in International rules football. Balls made by the Irish sports company O'Neills are recognised as the official ball to be played with, although it is now permitted to use the Gaelic ball manufactured by the Irish sports company Gaelic Gear.

Rugby

Richard Lindon and William Gilbert started making balls for Rugby school out of hand stitched, four-panel, leather casings and pigs’ bladders. The rugby ball's distinctive shape is supposedly due to the pig’s bladder though early balls were more plum shaped than oval. The balls varied in size in the beginning depending upon how large the pig’s bladder was.

Until the late 1860's rugby was played with a spherical ball with an inner-tube made of a pigs' bladder. Around 1862Richard Lindonintroduced Indian rubber bladder inner-tubesand because of the pliability of rubber the shape gradually changed from a sphere to an egg. Richard Lindon, having observed the ordinary ear syringe also invented the Brass Hand Pumpas rubber bladders were far too difficult to inflate by mouth. Richard Lindon also claimed to invent the rugby ball and its distinctive oval shapebut sadly, for him, didn't patent either the ball, the bladder or the pump. In 1892 the RFU endorsed ovalness as the compulsory shape. The gradual flattening of the ball continued over the years. ^[4]

Rugby league

Rugby league is played with prolate spheroid shaped football. Traditionally made of brown leather, modern rugby league balls are synthetic and manufactured in a variety of colors and patterns. The football used in rugby league is known as "international size" or "size 5" and is approximately 37 cm long and 60 cm in circumference at its widest point. Smaller sized balls are used for Mini and Mod versions of the game. A full size ball weighs between 383 and 440 grams. Rugby league footballs are slightly more pointed than rugby union footballs and larger than American footballs.

The Australian National Rugby League use balls made by Steeden. Steeden is also sometimes used as noun to describe the ball itself.

Rugby union

The football used in rugby union is a prolate spheroid essentially elliptical in profile. Traditionally made of brown leather, modern rugby union balls are manufactured in a variety of colors and patterns. A regulation rugby ball is 28–30 cm (11–11.8 inches) long and 58–62 cm (22.8–24.4 inches) in circumference at its widest point. It weighs 410–460 grams (14.5–16.2 ounces) and is inflated to 65.71–68.75 kPa (or 9.5–10 psi). ^[5]

In the 1980 leather-encased balls, which were prone to water-logging, were replaced with balls encased in synthetic waterproof materials.^[4]

Footnotes

1. ^ FIFA: Laws of the Game
2. ^ official website of IMAC
3. ^ Buse, Uwe (2006) "Die Stadt der Bälle". Spiegel 3/12/06: pg. 68-74. (German) and the text of the Atlanta Agreement
4. ^ ^a b Blood, mud and aftershave in The Observer Sunday February 5, 2006, Section B is for Ball by Oliver Price
5. ^ Rugby Union: Law 2 - The ball

Bibliography

• Angela Royston, 2005. How Is a Soccer Ball Made? Heinemann. ISBN 1-4034-6642-4.

External links

• construction of Soccer Balls
• Soccer Ball World
• Popular Mechanics article on American football manufacturing process
• Paper model truncated icosahedron (football)