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SEXY GLAM
MAGAZINE - JUNE 2014
occer has been played
in various forms though out
history. Many sites on the world wide
web have information on
the history of
football or
soccer.
Of
course,
here at
Soccer Ball
World, we will concentrate
on the history and evolution of the soccer
ball.
Early Ball History
Through out history, humans have enjoyed
kicking a ball or something like a ball.
South American Indians were known to
use a light elasticized ball. However; rub-
ber was not to be practically manufactured
until a few thousand years later.
According to historical references and leg-
end, early balls ranged from human heads,
stitched up cloth, animal and human skulls
to pig or cow bladders.
During the Ts’in and Han Dynasties (255
BC-220 AD), the Chinese played ‘tsu
chu’, in which animal-skin balls were
dribbled through gaps in a net stretched
between two poles. Certain ancient
Egyptian rites are said by
historians to have
similarities with
football, and
both the
ancient
Greeks
and
Romans
also
played
a game
that
en-
tailed
car-
rying
and
kicking
a ball.
According
to pre-me-
dieval legend,
an entire village
would kick a skull
along a path to a
nearby village square. The
opposing village would in turn
attempt to kick the skull to the first vil-
lage’s square. Wow, that probably caused
more riots than in modern soccer games.
AMedieval custom was to take pig blad-
ders used from live stock killed in prepa-
ration for winter sustenance and inflate
them. They would play a game using their
feet and hands to keep the “ball” in the air.
Sounds like hacky sack to me.
The animal bladder balls were eventu-
ally covered with leather for better shape
retention.
In 1836 Charles Goodyear patented
vulcanized rubber. Prior to this, balls were
dependant on the size and shape of the
pig’s bladder. The more irregular the blad-
der, the more unpredictable the behavior
of the ball was when kicked. However; it
would not be until the twentieth century
until most balls were made with rubber
bladders.
In 1855, Charles Goodyear designed and
built the first vulcanized rubber soccer
balls (footballs). The following picture
shows the Charles Goodyear ball that is
on display at the National Soccer Hall of
Fame which is located in Oneonta, NY,
USA.
In the 1862, H.J. Lindon developed one
of the first inflatable rubber bladders for
balls. Tragically his wife previously died
from lung disease. Reportedly from blow-
ing up many hundreds of pig’s bladders.
Lindon was probably inspired to develop
the inflatable rubber bladder because of
the ill effects of blowing up pig’s bladders.
The balls with the rubber bladders ensured
that the ball remained hard and oval.
Lindon also claimed to have invented the
rugby ball but did not patent the idea. In
those days, the round ball was preferred
because it was easier to kick and the oval
ball was easier to handle.
In 1863 the newly formed English Foot-
ball Association met to hammer out the
laws of the game. No description of the
ball was offered in the first set of rules.
When the rules were revised in 1872 it
was agreed that the ball “must be spherical
with a circumference of 27 to 28 inches”
(68.6 cm to 71.1 cm). That rule remains
in today’s FIFA laws. Very little has ever
been written about the ball, probably
because it has remained very much the
same over the years. The official size and
weight of the ball was first fixed in 1872.