Rec and Sports

The History of The Most Popular Sport In The World

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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 history of soccer goes along, evidently, with the soccer ball history. When talking about soccer ball history there are several periods to distinguish. 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. It is known that people have liked kicking either a ball or something similar to one, since the beginnings of times. 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 human and animal skulls to pig or cow bladders and stitched 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 Romans and Greeks played a game which involved carrying and kicking 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 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 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. They used to inflate them and then 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 managed to create 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 already enjoyed the use of stronger rubber balls that could withstand heavier and heavier pressure.

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