Football (ball)
Encyclopedia
A football is an inflated ball used to play one of the various sports known as football
.
The first balls were made of natural materials, such as an inflated pig bladder
, sometimes inside a leather cover. (This has given rise to the US slang-term "pigskin".) Modern balls are designed by teams of engineers to exacting specifications, with rubber or plastic bladders, and often with plastic covers. Various leagues and games use different balls, though they all have one of the following basic shapes:
The precise shape and construction of footballs is typically specified as part of the rules and regulations.
The oldest football still in existence, which is thought to have been made circa 1540, was discovered in the roof of Stirling Castle
, Scotland, in 1981. The ball is made of leather (possibly from a deer
) and a pig's bladder. It has a diameter of between 14 –, weighs 125 g (4.4 oz) and is currently on display at the Smith Art Gallery and Museum
in Stirling.
In North America, the term football refers to a ball made of leather, which is required in professional and collegiate
football. Footballs used in recreation
, and in organized youth football, may be made of rubber
or plastic materials (the high school football
rulebooks still allow the inexpensive all-rubber footballs, though they are less common than leather).
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. Historically, white footballs have been used in football games played at night so that the ball can be seen more easily; however, this practice is no longer commonplace, as artificial lighting conditions have improved to the point where it is no longer necessary. At most levels of play (but not, notably, the NFL
), white stripes are painted on each end of the ball, halfway around the circumference, to improve nighttime visibility. The UFL uses a ball with lime-green stripes. In the CFL
the stripes traverse the entire circumference of the ball. The XFL
used a novel color pattern, a black ball with red curved lines in lieu of stripes, for its footballs; this design was redone in a brown color scheme for the Arena Football League in 2003.
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 to 13.5 psi (86.2 to 93.1 kPa). The ball weighs 14 to 15 oz (396.9 to 425.2 g).
In an NFL game, the home club must have 36 balls for an outdoor game or 24 for an indoor game, and they must be available for the referee to test with a pressure gauge two hours before the game. Twelve new footballs, sealed in a special box and shipped by the manufacturer, are opened in the officials’ locker room two hours before the game. These balls are specially marked with the letter "K" and used exclusively for the kicking game.
with a circumference
of 68–70 cm (26.8–27.6 in), a weight
410–450 g (14.5–15.9 oz), inflated to a pressure
of 0.6 to 1.1 atmospheres
(59–108 kPa (8.6–15.7 psi)) "at sea level", and covered in leather or "other suitable material". The weight specified for a ball is the dry weight, as older balls often became significantly heavier in the course of a match played in wet weather. The standard ball is a Size 5, although smaller sizes exist: Size 3 is standard for team handball
and Size 4 in futsal
and other small-field variants. Other sizes are used in underage games or as novelty items.
Size 1
Size 2
Size 3
Size 4
Size 5
designed and manufactured spherical footballs; these were made entirely of vulcanized rubber. In 1863, the English Football Association
was formed and the rules of association football were established. However, there was no description on the ball size until 1873 when it was decided that the ball "must be spherical with a circumference of 27–28 in (68.6–71.1 cm)."
This rule still applies for the association football official matches played today all over the world. The early rules specified a weight of 13–15 oz (368.5–425.2 g) which was however changed in 1937 to the current accepted weight, 14–16 oz (396.9–453.6 g). At the same time, the association agreed that the official association football ball must be covered in leather or any approved material.
A direct consequence of establishing the laws of the game by the English Football Association was the mass production of association football balls. The first two companies that started producing association football balls in larger quantities were Mitre and Thomlinson from Glasgow
. They produced balls made of leather because they wanted to produce good quality association football balls that will retain their form after use. On the other hand, they preferred stitching the panels since that means better quality and better and longer resistance in what the ball concerns. The best covers which resulted in very expensive association football balls were the ones made from the rump of a cow. By the 20th century, the official balls were produced with rubber bladders which were able to withstand heavier pressure.
Until the 1950s the official balls used during association football matches had dark colors because of the color of the leather. In 1951 a white ball was first permitted to help spectators see the ball easier with the advent of floodlights
. Even if they were used earlier in unofficial games, the official association football balls were permitted only in the mid-20th century.
Most modern association football balls are stitched from 32 panels of waterproofed leather or plastic: 12 regular pentagon
s and 20 regular hexagons. The 32-panel configuration is the spherical polyhedron
corresponding to the truncated icosahedron
; it is spherical because the faces bulge from 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 publicized worldwide by the Adidas
Telstar, the official ball of the 1970 World Cup
.
The familiar 32-panel association football ball design is sometimes referenced to describe the truncated icosahedron Archimedean solid
, carbon buckyballs
or the root structure of geodesic dome
s.
Balls are usually stitched from non-waterproof plastic, similar to the design of the modern volleyballs
and Gaelic footballs, and laced to allow access to the internal air bladder.
The official FIFA World Cup
association football ball 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. Adidas will continue to supply the official association football ball for the 2010
and 2014
World Cups. In 2010, the official match ball Jabulani's design received criticism, with former Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson describing it as a "beach ball" responsible for a rise in errors by goalkeepers and Spanish goalkeeper
Iker Casillas
also called it too rough for the goalies .
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.
, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated circuits in Erlangen
and the company Cairos Technologies. The ball contains an integrated ASIC
-Chip and a transmitter for the transfer of data. The chip is suspended in the middle of the association football ball and sends a signal to a receiver at the referee's wrist once the ball passed the outer goal-line.
The first tests were performed in Nuremberg
. The stadium is equipped with twelve antennas in light masts and other locations distributed around the arena which collect data that is transmitted from the chip. The antennas are connected to a fiber optic cable which routes the data to servers in order to analyze them. The system was first used during the FIFA U-17 World Cup
in Peru.
. 75% of these (60% of all world production) are made in the city of Sialkot
. Child labor was commonly used in the production of the balls. In 1996, during the European championship, activists lobbied to end the use of child labor. This eventually led to the Atlanta Agreement
, which seeks to reform the industry to eliminate the use of child labor in the production of balls. This also led to a centralization 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 labor occurred, on the other hand often forced workers to commute further to get to work. According to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA
), the problem of eliminating the use of child labor is extremely complex, and that FIFA itself has neither "the experience nor the means to eradicate this wide-reaching problem on its own.".
The football used in Australian football
is similar to a rugby ball but generally slightly smaller and more rounded at the ends, but more elongated in overall appearance, being longer by comparison with its width than a rugby ball. 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 62–76 kPa (9–11 psi). In the AFL
, the balls are red for day matches and yellow for night matches.
Australian football ball brands include Burley
, Ross Faulkner, and Sherrin
(the brand used mainly by the Australian Football League
).
The Australian football 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.
Gaelic football
is played with a spherical leather ball, roughly 25 cm (9.8 in) in diameter and 69–74 cm (27.2–29.1 in) in circumference. A dry ball weighs between 370 and 425 g (13.1 and 15 oz). The pattern of panels is identical to the volleyball
, consisting of six groups perpendicular to each other, each group being composed of two trapezoid
al panels and one rectangular panel; 18 panels in all.
Gaelic footballs are also the standard balls used in International rules football
.
Although Gaelic football has been played with a round ball since first organized in 1887, balls made by the Irish sports company O'Neills have been used sometime since the company was founded in 1918 and are recognized 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.
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Richard Lindon
and Bernardo Solano 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, although early balls were more plumb-shape 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 near spherical ball with an inner-tube made of a pig's 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.
The introduction of synthetic footballs over the traditional leather balls, in both rugby codes, was originally governed by weather conditions. If the playing surface was heavy, the synthetic ball was used, as it didn't absorb water and become heavy. Eventually, the leather balls were phased out completely.
is played with a prolate spheroid shaped football which is inflated with air. A referee will stop play immediately if the ball does not meet the requirements of size and shape. Traditionally made of brown leather, modern footballs are synthetic and manufactured in a variety of colours and patterns. Senior competitions should use light coloured balls to allow spectators to see the ball more easily. The football used in rugby league is known as "international size" or "size 5" and is approximately 27 cm (10.6 in) long and 60 cm (23.6 in) in circumference at its widest point. Smaller-sized balls are used for junior versions of the game, such as "Mini
" and "Mod
". A full size ball weighs between 383 and 440 g (13.5 and 15.5 oz). Rugby league footballs are slightly more pointed than rugby union footballs and larger than American footballs.
The Australasian National Rugby League
and European Super League
use balls made by Steeden
. Steeden is also sometimes used as a noun to describe the ball itself.
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 in) long and 58–62 cm (22.8–24.4 in) in circumference at its widest point. It weighs 410–460 g (14.5–16.2 oz) and is inflated to 65.7–68.8 kPa (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
was the match ball of the 2007 Rugby World Cup
.
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Football
Football may refer to one of a number of team sports which all involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer"...
.
The first balls were made of natural materials, such as an inflated pig bladder
Pig bladder
Pig bladder is the bladder of a domestic pig, similar to the human urinary bladder. Today, this hollow organ has various applications in medicine, and in traditional cuisines and customs...
, sometimes inside a leather cover. (This has given rise to the US slang-term "pigskin".) Modern balls are designed by teams of engineers to exacting specifications, with rubber or plastic bladders, and often with plastic covers. Various leagues and games use different balls, though they all have one of the following basic shapes:
- a sphereSphereA sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point...
: used in :Association football (also called soccer in some countries) and Gaelic footballGaelic footballGaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland... - a prolate spheroidProlate spheroidA prolate spheroid is a spheroid in which the polar axis is greater than the equatorial diameter. Prolate spheroids stand in contrast to oblate spheroids...
('egg-shaped')- either with rounded ends: used in the rugbyRugby footballRugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
codes and Australian footballAustralian rules footballAustralian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either... - or with more pointed ends: used in American footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and Canadian footballCanadian footballCanadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
- either with rounded ends: used in the rugby
The precise shape and construction of footballs is typically specified as part of the rules and regulations.
The oldest football still in existence, which is thought to have been made circa 1540, was discovered in the roof of Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architecturally, in Scotland. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is surrounded on three sides by steep...
, Scotland, in 1981. The ball is made of leather (possibly from a deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
) and a pig's bladder. It has a diameter of between 14 –, weighs 125 g (4.4 oz) and is currently on display at the Smith Art Gallery and Museum
Stirling Smith Museum and Art Gallery
Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum is an institution based in Stirling, Central Scotland, dedicated to the promotion of cultural and historical heritage and the arts, from a local scale to nationally and beyond. It is also known locally by its original name of "The Smith Institute"...
in Stirling.
American and Canadian football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
football. Footballs used in recreation
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...
, and in organized youth football, may be made of rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
or plastic materials (the high school football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....
rulebooks still allow the inexpensive all-rubber footballs, though they are less common than leather).
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. Historically, white footballs have been used in football games played at night so that the ball can be seen more easily; however, this practice is no longer commonplace, as artificial lighting conditions have improved to the point where it is no longer necessary. At most levels of play (but not, notably, the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
), white stripes are painted on each end of the ball, halfway around the circumference, to improve nighttime visibility. The UFL uses a ball with lime-green stripes. In the CFL
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
the stripes traverse the entire circumference of the ball. The XFL
XFL
The XFL was a professional American football league that played for one season in 2001. The league was founded by Vince McMahon, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of WWE...
used a novel color pattern, a black ball with red curved lines in lieu of stripes, for its footballs; this design was redone in a brown color scheme for the Arena Football League in 2003.
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
Sports league
League is a term commonly used to describe a group of sports teams or individual athletes that compete against each other in a specific sport. At its simplest, it may be a local group of amateur athletes who form teams among themselves and compete on weekends; at its most complex, it can be an...
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
Quality control
Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:...
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
Inflatable
An inflatable is an object that can be inflated with a gas, usually with air, but hydrogen, helium and nitrogen are also used. One of several advantages of an inflatable is that it can be stored in a small space when not inflated, since inflatables depend on the presence of a gas to maintain their...
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
Polyurethane
A polyurethane is any polymer composed of a chain of organic units joined by carbamate links. Polyurethane polymers are formed through step-growth polymerization, by reacting a monomer with another monomer in the presence of a catalyst.Polyurethanes are...
or rubber lining called a bladder is then inserted through the lacing hole.
Polyvinyl chloride
Polyvinyl chloride
Polyvinyl chloride, commonly abbreviated PVC, is a thermoplastic polymer. It is a vinyl polymer constructed of repeating vinyl groups having one hydrogen replaced by chloride. Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC is widely used in...
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 to 13.5 psi (86.2 to 93.1 kPa). The ball weighs 14 to 15 oz (396.9 to 425.2 g).
In an NFL game, the home club must have 36 balls for an outdoor game or 24 for an indoor game, and they must be available for the referee to test with a pressure gauge two hours before the game. Twelve new footballs, sealed in a special box and shipped by the manufacturer, are opened in the officials’ locker room two hours before the game. These balls are specially marked with the letter "K" and used exclusively for the kicking game.
Dimensions
Law 2 of the game specifies that the ball is an air-filled sphereSphere
A sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point...
with a circumference
Circumference
The circumference is the distance around a closed curve. Circumference is a special perimeter.-Circumference of a circle:The circumference of a circle is the length around it....
of 68–70 cm (26.8–27.6 in), a weight
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
410–450 g (14.5–15.9 oz), inflated to a pressure
Pressure
Pressure is the force per unit area applied in a direction perpendicular to the surface of an object. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure.- Definition :...
of 0.6 to 1.1 atmospheres
Technical atmosphere
A technical atmosphere is a non-SI unit of pressure equal to one kilogram-force per square centimeter.The symbol "at" clashes with that of the katal , the SI unit of catalytic activity; a kilotechnical atmosphere would have the symbol "kat", indistinguishable from the symbol for the katal...
(59–108 kPa (8.6–15.7 psi)) "at sea level", and covered in leather or "other suitable material". The weight specified for a ball is the dry weight, as older balls often became significantly heavier in the course of a match played in wet weather. The standard ball is a Size 5, although smaller sizes exist: Size 3 is standard for team handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
and Size 4 in futsal
Futsal
Futsal is a variant of association football that is played on a smaller pitch and mainly played indoors. Its name is a portmanteau of the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol de salón , which can be translated as "hall football" or "indoor football"...
and other small-field variants. Other sizes are used in underage games or as novelty items.
Size 1
- Rugby's are in direct relation to footballs.These mini-balls are only used for promotional purposes. They are normally made of synthetic material, built up in 32 panels, and they do not exceed 17 in (43.2 cm) in circumferenceCircumferenceThe circumference is the distance around a closed curve. Circumference is a special perimeter.-Circumference of a circle:The circumference of a circle is the length around it....
.
Size 2
- This size ball is sometimes used in promotional tournaments and during trainings for children. It is the same size ball used for playing by children under 4. The size 2 association football ball is made of synthetic material, plastic or PVCPolyvinyl chloridePolyvinyl chloride, commonly abbreviated PVC, is a thermoplastic polymer. It is a vinyl polymer constructed of repeating vinyl groups having one hydrogen replaced by chloride. Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC is widely used in...
and it is not bigger than 22 in (55.9 cm) or heavier than 10 oz (283.5 g). It is the perfect size ball for practising drills and for improving one's handling skills.
Size 3
- The size 3 association football balls are used by players under 8 because the balls are light (they do not weigh more than 12 oz (340.2 g) and fairly small (24 in (61 cm) in circumference). They are usually made of 32 stitched or glued panels of synthetic materials or PVC. This is also the official size of balls used in handball.
Size 4
- The size 4 balls are the standard balls for futsal but they may also be used in practices by players between 8 and 12 years old. They are sphericalSphereA sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point...
, weighing no more than 13 oz (368.5 g) and with a maximum circumference of 26 in (66 cm). They are normally made of leather or other suitable materials.
Size 5
- This is the standard ball size 28 in (71.1 cm) used in official FIFA championships all over the world. It is also the most widely used size of ball by players 12 years old or older. A size 5 association football ball could also be made from polyurethanePolyurethaneA polyurethane is any polymer composed of a chain of organic units joined by carbamate links. Polyurethane polymers are formed through step-growth polymerization, by reacting a monomer with another monomer in the presence of a catalyst.Polyurethanes are...
. It is a less soft material that still retains a good feel and is much more durable. This material is a type of plastic, so it can increase the life of the ball dramatically.
History
Spherical footballs were invented shortly before the rules of association football were formalised. In 1855, Charles GoodyearCharles Goodyear
Charles Goodyear was an American inventor who developed a process to vulcanize rubber in 1839 -- a method that he perfected while living and working in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1844, and for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844Although...
designed and manufactured spherical footballs; these were made entirely of vulcanized rubber. In 1863, the English Football Association
The Football Association
The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
was formed and the rules of association football were established. However, there was no description on the ball size until 1873 when it was decided that the ball "must be spherical with a circumference of 27–28 in (68.6–71.1 cm)."
This rule still applies for the association football official matches played today all over the world. The early rules specified a weight of 13–15 oz (368.5–425.2 g) which was however changed in 1937 to the current accepted weight, 14–16 oz (396.9–453.6 g). At the same time, the association agreed that the official association football ball must be covered in leather or any approved material.
A direct consequence of establishing the laws of the game by the English Football Association was the mass production of association football balls. The first two companies that started producing association football balls in larger quantities were Mitre and Thomlinson from Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. They produced balls made of leather because they wanted to produce good quality association football balls that will retain their form after use. On the other hand, they preferred stitching the panels since that means better quality and better and longer resistance in what the ball concerns. The best covers which resulted in very expensive association football balls were the ones made from the rump of a cow. By the 20th century, the official balls were produced with rubber bladders which were able to withstand heavier pressure.
Until the 1950s the official balls used during association football matches had dark colors because of the color of the leather. In 1951 a white ball was first permitted to help spectators see the ball easier with the advent of floodlights
Floodlights (sport)
Floodlights are broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial lights often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is being held during low-light conditions....
. Even if they were used earlier in unofficial games, the official association football balls were permitted only in the mid-20th century.
Construction
Pentagon
In geometry, a pentagon is any five-sided polygon. A pentagon may be simple or self-intersecting. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagram is an example of a self-intersecting pentagon.- Regular pentagons :In a regular pentagon, all sides are equal in length and...
s and 20 regular hexagons. The 32-panel configuration is the spherical polyhedron
Spherical polyhedron
In mathematics, a spherical polyhedron is a tiling of the sphere in which the surface is divided or partitioned by great arcs into bounded regions called spherical polygons...
corresponding to the truncated icosahedron
Truncated icosahedron
In geometry, the truncated icosahedron is an Archimedean solid, one of thirteen convex isogonal nonprismatic solids whose faces are two or more types of regular polygons.It has 12 regular pentagonal faces, 20 regular hexagonal faces, 60 vertices and 90 edges....
; it is spherical because the faces bulge from the pressure of the air inside. The first 32-panel ball was marketed by Select
SELECT Sport A/S
SELECT Sport A/S is a Danish sports equipment manufacturer. It was founded in 1947 by Eigil Nielsen, former goalkeeper of the Danish national football team....
in the 1950s in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. This configuration became common throughout Continental Europe
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
in the 1960s, and was publicized worldwide by the Adidas
Adidas
Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company , and Rockport...
Telstar, the official ball of the 1970 World Cup
1970 FIFA World Cup
The 1970 FIFA World Cup, the ninth staging of the World Cup, was held in Mexico, from 31 May to 21 June. The 1970 tournament was the first World Cup hosted in North America, and the first held outside South America and Europe. In a match-up of two-time World Cup champions, the final was won by...
.
The familiar 32-panel association football ball design is sometimes referenced to describe the truncated icosahedron Archimedean solid
Archimedean solid
In geometry an Archimedean solid is a highly symmetric, semi-regular convex polyhedron composed of two or more types of regular polygons meeting in identical vertices...
, carbon buckyballs
Fullerene
A fullerene is any molecule composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. Spherical fullerenes are also called buckyballs, and they resemble the balls used in association football. Cylindrical ones are called carbon nanotubes or buckytubes...
or the root structure of geodesic dome
Geodesic dome
A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When...
s.
Volleyball (ball)
A volleyball is a ball used to play indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, or other less common variations of the sport. Volleyballs are round and traditionally consist of eighteen nearly rectangular panels of synthetic or genuine leather, arranged in six identical sections of three panels each,...
and Gaelic footballs, and laced to allow access to the internal air bladder.
The official FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
association football ball for Germany 2006
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
matches was the 14-panel Adidas +Teamgeist. It was made in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
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. Adidas will continue to supply the official association football ball for the 2010
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
and 2014
2014 FIFA World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup will be the 20th FIFA World Cup, an international association football tournament that will take place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014....
World Cups. In 2010, the official match ball Jabulani's design received criticism, with former Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson describing it as a "beach ball" responsible for a rise in errors by goalkeepers and Spanish goalkeeper
Goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, a goalkeeper is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by intercepting shots at goal...
Iker Casillas
Íker Casillas
Iker Casillas Fernández is a Spanish football goalkeeper who plays for the Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and the Spanish national team, being the captain of both...
also called it too rough for the goalies .
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.
Chip-enabled ball
The Chip-enabled association football ball is a football which was invented by AdidasAdidas
Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company , and Rockport...
, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated circuits in Erlangen
Erlangen
Erlangen is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the confluence of the river Regnitz and its large tributary, the Untere Schwabach.Erlangen has more than 100,000 inhabitants....
and the company Cairos Technologies. The ball contains an integrated ASIC
Application-specific integrated circuit
An application-specific integrated circuit is an integrated circuit customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. For example, a chip designed solely to run a cell phone is an ASIC...
-Chip and a transmitter for the transfer of data. The chip is suspended in the middle of the association football ball and sends a signal to a receiver at the referee's wrist once the ball passed the outer goal-line.
The first tests were performed in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
. The stadium is equipped with twelve antennas in light masts and other locations distributed around the arena which collect data that is transmitted from the chip. The antennas are connected to a fiber optic cable which routes the data to servers in order to analyze them. The system was first used during the FIFA U-17 World Cup
FIFA U-17 World Cup
The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to the FIFA U-17 World Championship and known by its current name since 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by Fédération Internationale de Football...
in Peru.
Child labor
About 80% of association footballs are made in PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. 75% of these (60% of all world production) are made in the city of Sialkot
Sialkot
Sialkot is a city in Pakistan situated in the north-east of the Punjab province at the foothills of snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. It is the capital of Sialkot District. The city is about north-west of Lahore and only a few kilometers from Indian-controlled Jammu.The...
. Child labor was commonly used in the production of the balls. In 1996, during the European championship, activists lobbied to end the use of child labor. This eventually led to the Atlanta Agreement
Atlanta Agreement
The Atlanta Agreement is an agreement which was formed between the International Labour Organization, the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry and UNICEF on February 14, 1997. It was announced at the Sports Super Show in Atlanta, Georgia...
, which seeks to reform the industry to eliminate the use of child labor in the production of balls. This also led to a centralization 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 labor occurred, on the other hand often forced workers to commute further to get to work. According to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
), the problem of eliminating the use of child labor is extremely complex, and that FIFA itself has neither "the experience nor the means to eradicate this wide-reaching problem on its own.".
Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
is similar to a rugby ball but generally slightly smaller and more rounded at the ends, but more elongated in overall appearance, being longer by comparison with its width than a rugby ball. 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 62–76 kPa (9–11 psi). In the AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
, the balls are red for day matches and yellow for night matches.
Australian football ball brands include Burley
Burley-Sekem
Burley-Sekem Pty Ltd is an Australian sporting goods and apparel company. It was formed in 1985 from the merger of Burley Sports Pty Ltd, formerly JL Burley Pty Ltd, a Western Australian football manufacturer, and Sekem Pty Ltd, a sporting apparel and school uniform manufacturer.-Burley:The Burley...
, Ross Faulkner, and Sherrin
Sherrin
Sherrin is a brand of football used in Australian rules football and is the official ball of the Australian Football League, designed to its official specifications...
(the brand used mainly by the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
).
The Australian football 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.
Gaelic football
Gaelic football
Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
is played with a spherical leather ball, roughly 25 cm (9.8 in) in diameter and 69–74 cm (27.2–29.1 in) in circumference. A dry ball weighs between 370 and 425 g (13.1 and 15 oz). The pattern of panels is identical to the volleyball
Volleyball (ball)
A volleyball is a ball used to play indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, or other less common variations of the sport. Volleyballs are round and traditionally consist of eighteen nearly rectangular panels of synthetic or genuine leather, arranged in six identical sections of three panels each,...
, consisting of six groups perpendicular to each other, each group being composed of two trapezoid
Trapezoid
In Euclidean geometry, a convex quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides is referred to as a trapezoid in American English and as a trapezium in English outside North America. A trapezoid with vertices ABCD is denoted...
al panels and one rectangular panel; 18 panels in all.
Gaelic footballs are also the standard balls used in International rules football
International rules football
International rules football is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international representative matches between Australian rules football players and Gaelic football players....
.
Although Gaelic football has been played with a round ball since first organized in 1887, balls made by the Irish sports company O'Neills have been used sometime since the company was founded in 1918 and are recognized 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 football
Richard Lindon
Richard Lindon was an English leatherworker who was instrumental in the development of the modern-day rugby ball by advancing the craft for ball, rubber bladder, and air pump.- Life and career :...
and Bernardo Solano started making balls for Rugby school
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
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, although early balls were more plumb-shape 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 near spherical ball with an inner-tube made of a pig's 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
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
endorsed ovalness as the compulsory shape. The gradual flattening of the ball continued over the years.
Rugby league
Rugby leagueRugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
is played with a prolate spheroid shaped football which is inflated with air. A referee will stop play immediately if the ball does not meet the requirements of size and shape. Traditionally made of brown leather, modern footballs are synthetic and manufactured in a variety of colours and patterns. Senior competitions should use light coloured balls to allow spectators to see the ball more easily. The football used in rugby league is known as "international size" or "size 5" and is approximately 27 cm (10.6 in) long and 60 cm (23.6 in) in circumference at its widest point. Smaller-sized balls are used for junior versions of the game, such as "Mini
Mini footy
Mini footy is a form of rugby league developed by the Australian Rugby League. It was developed to introduce children to rugby league....
" and "Mod
Mod league
Mod league is a form of rugby league developed by the Australian Rugby League. It was developed to introduce children to rugby league.Mod league follows on from mini footy; it introduces laws more common to the full international laws of rugby league, whilst also keeping the theme of being an...
". A full size ball weighs between 383 and 440 g (13.5 and 15.5 oz). Rugby league footballs are slightly more pointed than rugby union footballs and larger than American footballs.
The Australasian National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
and European Super League
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
use balls made by Steeden
Steeden
Steeden is an Australian sporting goods manufacturer, best known for producing rugby league footballs.Steeden is the official ball supplier of the National Rugby League , Rugby League State of Origin, Kangaroos National Team, New South Wales Rugby League, Queensland Rugby League, Rugby Football...
. Steeden is also sometimes used as a noun to describe the ball itself.
Rugby union
The ball used in rugby union, usually referred to as a rugby ball, is a prolate spheroid essentially ellipticalEllipse
In geometry, an ellipse is a plane curve that results from the intersection of a cone by a plane in a way that produces a closed curve. Circles are special cases of ellipses, obtained when the cutting plane is orthogonal to the cone's axis...
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 in) long and 58–62 cm (22.8–24.4 in) in circumference at its widest point. It weighs 410–460 g (14.5–16.2 oz) and is inflated to 65.7–68.8 kPa (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
Gilbert Synergie
The Gilbert Synergie is a rugby union rugby ball produced by Gilbert. The Gilbert Synergie was the official match ball of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, replacing the Gilbert Xact used in Australia during the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The ball was introduced in time for the 2006 Autumn internationals...
was the match ball of the 2007 Rugby World Cup
2007 Rugby World Cup
The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003,...
.
Footnotes
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