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 the modern times.
Early soccer ball history starts before the birth of Christ. It is known that people have liked kicking either a ball or something similar to one, since the beginnings of times. South American Indians were among the first to use a form of elastic ball that pre-dated the use of rubber, discovered a thousand years later. The early soccer balls consisted of different items from animal and human 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 Greeks and Romans played 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 considered as part of the soccer ball history, also talk about bladders and skulls used for game playing. An instance of the use of an animal bladder ball is presented in the legend about the ‘game’ between two villages. An entire village used to kick a skull along a path to a nearby village square. The other village would in turn try to kick the skull to the first village’s square. Inflated animal bladders seem to dominate this part of the soccer ball history. Once inflated they would try to keep the ‘ball’ in the air by using their hands or feet. 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 one of the first inflatable bladders for soccer balls. 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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