History of the soccer ball
The history of modern association soccer can be linked back to games played in medieval England, but the idea of kicking a ball around a field practically dates back to the dawn of human civilization. Ancient civilizations like the Chinese and the South American Indians used animal-skin balls and stitched-up cloth to get their energy out. Accounts of using human heads or skulls also show up in a number of legends.The ball didn’t have a whole lot of development over the first 18 centuries A.D. But when a change did come, it was big. In 1836, Charles Goodyear patented vulcanized rubber, and twenty years later he designed a rubber soccer ball. He must have been a fan of the sport who had grown tired of the unpredictable nature of animal-bladder balls. Today, this original ball can be viewed at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, New York. Fans will see that it resembles a stitched basketball more than the pentagons and hexagons of a modern ball.After the invention of rubber, the rubber bladder quickly replaced pigs’ bladders, which sometimes led to lung disease while being blown up. Interlocking sections were the next development in the late 1800s, but the first 32 panel ball was developed in the 1950s by architect Buckminster Fuller. The coloring is designed so that players can see the swerve of the ball.Since then, players and scientists alike have been continually fine-tuning the soccer ball. The model used in the recent 2010 World Cup is known as the Jabulani, and has only eight panels which are spherically molded. It also includes “Grip’n'Groove” panels to aid goalies in catching the ball, and to ensure stable flight. While some players seem to be happy with the ball, which has been commercially available since last December, others complain that it is too light and fast. Who knows what the next evolution will bring?