Soccer is maybe the most popular sport in the world. The soccer ball history is in fact the history of soccer. When referring to the soccer ball history you should distinguish between some stages or ages in which changes in the soccer ball occurred. Thus we can talk about 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 consisted of different items from animal and human skulls to pig or cow bladders and wrapped up cloth. Between 255 BC and 220 AD, the Chinese played ‘tsu chu’ using animal-skin balls dribbled through gaps in a net stretched between two poles. Ancient Greeks and Romans played a game which involved kicking and carrying a ball, whereas in certain ancient Egyptian rites soccer similarities have been discovered.
Pre-medieval and medieval stories and legends 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. An instance of the use of an animal bladder ball is presented in the legend about the ‘game’ between two villages. An entire village ran and kicked a ball with the purpose of getting it into the other village’s square. The other villagers will make similar attempts. Inflated animal bladders seem to dominate this part of the soccer ball history. They used to inflate them and then 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 managed to create the first vulcanized rubber soccer balls. In 1862 H.J. Lindon came up with with a prototype for the first inflatable soccer ball bladders. He is also credited to have invented the rugby ball; however he did not patent the idea for it as, in those days, the round ball was preferred for being more easily used. By the 1900s the soccer ball history had entered on a different path, bringing these entertainment objects a lot closer to what they are today.
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Tags: history, league, soccer, soccer_ball, sport