Some would say soccer is the most popular game in the world; we are not sure about that, but it is definitely one of the oldest. The soccer ball history is in fact the history of soccer. When talking about soccer ball history there are several periods to distinguish. Thus there are the early ball history, the balls in the 1800s, balls in the 1900s, and modern models.
Early soccer ball history goes back to the times before Christ. Kicking a round object for fun was surely a pastime to many cultures. Indians in South America are known to have used a light elasticized ball, which is amazing since rubber started being produced only a few thousand years later. The early soccer balls were made of very peculiar materials from human and animal skulls to cow or pig bladders and stitched up cloth. The Chinese used to play a game that involved dribbling a ball through gaps in a net spread between two poles, and this happened as early as 255BC. Ancient Romans and Greeks also had a game which involved kicking and carrying a ball, whereas in certain ancient Egyptian rites are said to have had similarities with soccer.
Pre-medieval and medieval legends and stories that can be qualified as part of the soccer ball history, also mention the use of animal bladders or skulls to play games similar to modern soccer. There is a story about people in two villages playing with a ball. An entire village ran and kicked a ball with the purpose of getting it into the other village’s square. The other village would in turn try to kick the skull to the first village’s square. In medieval times they used the bladders from animals killed for winter sustenance. Once inflated they would try to keep the ‘ball’ in the air by by means of both feet and hands. In time people improvements to the shape and strength of the ball were brought by covering it with leather.
The soccer ball history of the 1800s bears the influence of the introduction of vulcanized rubber, Charles Goodyear’s invention. In 1855 the same Charles Goodyear designed and then built the first vulcanized rubber soccer balls. In 1862 H.J. Lindon developed with a prototype for the first inflatable soccer ball bladders. Although he is the father of the rugby ball too, he did not patent the idea at the time because of the preference for the round ball. By the 1900s the soccer ball history had already enjoyed the use of stronger rubber balls that could withstand heavier and heavier pressure.
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Tags: history, league, soccer, soccer_ball, sport