Football (ball)

A football is a ball used to play one of the different sports known as football. 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 and the Maori game Ki-o-Rahi;
• A 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

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 that the ball is 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". 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

A truncated icosahedron (left) compared with an association football (soccer) ball.

Most modern footballs are stitched from 32 panels of waterproofed leather or plastic: pigskin, 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.

The official match ball of the 2006 FIFA 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.

The official FIFA World Cup football for Germany 2006 matches was the 14-panel Adidas +Teamgeist. It was made in Thailand by Adidas, who have provided the official match balls for the tournament since 1970, and is a "thermally bonded" machine-pressed ball, rather than a traditionally stitched one. For future world cups, FIFA is hoping to alternate between Nike and Adidas for match balls.

Another ball with an innovative pattern is the 26-panel Mitre PRO 100T.

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.

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 labour 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 labour 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 Labour (IMAC) - an organization created to watch over the Atlanta Agreement - to make sure no child labour 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 free of child labour.

Australian football

An Australian rules 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

Different sized and weight balls are used for different age levels, and for use with other sports such as Rec Footy and Women's Australian rules football.

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

The Australian rules ball was invented by T.W. Sherrin in 1880, after he was given a misshapen rugby ball to fix. Sherrin designed the ball with indented rather than pointy ends to give the ball a better bounce. Before this time, a round ball was used from the 1850s to 1870s and later rugby balls were used to play the game.

American and Canadian football

An American football

In North America, the term football refers to a ball which is used to play American football or Canadian football. It is also referred to as a "pigskin". 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).

According to nfl.com: The home club shall have 36 balls for outdoor games and 24 for indoor games available for testing with a pressure gauge by the referee two hours prior to the starting time of the game to meet with League requirements. Twelve (12) new footballs, sealed in a special box and shipped by the manufacturer, will be opened in the officials’ locker room two hours prior to the starting time of the game. These balls are to be specially marked with the letter "k" and used exclusively for the kicking game.

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

Ki-o-Rahi

The traditional 'ki' ball is still commonly used in modern day matches. They are being superceded by the popular synthetic balls which are easy to procure and last longer.

Balls used in ki-o-rahi were made traditionally from harakeke (flax), raupo (sedgegrass), pumice and light wood. They were called 'ki' or 'paoro'. For one thousand years they were the common materials however significantly, since WW2, most games (except for the ceremonial) are now played with just two types - the round synthetic balls, or the flax woven 'ki', with diameters varying between 150cm - 175cm.

Gaelic football

Balls made by Irish company O'Neill's are used for all official Gaelic football matches.

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.

Although Gaelic football has been played with a round ball since first organised in 1887, balls made by the Irish sports company O'Neills have been used sometime since the company was founded in 1918 and 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.[2]

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 1870 rugby was played with a spherical ball with an inner-tube made of a pigs' bladder. In 1870 Richard Lindon introduced rubber inner-tubes and because of the pliability of rubber the shape gradually changed from a sphere to an egg. In 1892 the RFU endorsed ovalness as the compulsory shape. The gradual flattening of the ball continued over the years.

Rugby league

Rugby league is played with prolate spheroid shaped football. Traditionally made of brown leather, modern footballs 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 27 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

File:Rugbyball2.jpg

The football as used in rugby union.

The ball used in rugby union is a prolate spheroid essentially elliptical in profile. Traditionally made of brown leather, modern footballs are manufactured in a variety of colors and patterns. A regulation football 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).

In 1980, leather-encased balls, which were prone to water-logging, were replaced with balls encased in synthetic waterproof materials. The Gilbert Synergie is the match ball of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Bibliography

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

External links

• Football network
• construction of Soccer Balls
• Soccer Ball World
• Popular Mechanics article on American football manufacturing process
• antique soccer balls
• Paper model truncated icosahedron (soccer ball)
• Ki-o-Rahi traditions
• Ki-o-Rahi history and rules