Jabulani Ball
History
Throughout the history of football, people have been searching year after year for the perfect ball. It has been a quest to improve and improve a ball that is used in the most widespread sport in the world. World Cup after World Cup has seen new footballs with incremental changes in material between each one. In 1836, Charles Goodyear patented vulcanized rubber, he spent nearly 20 years in attempting to create a ball for football and finally he invented the first vulcanized rubber football in 1855. In 1862, H.J. Lindon developed one of the first inflatable rubber bladders for balls. “By the 1900’s bladders were made with stronger rubber and could withstand heavier pressure. Most balls produced by that time used rubber bladders. The balls were made from inner tubes covered with heavy brown leather. These balls would bounce easier and yet could be kicked. Most balls had a tanned leather cover with eighteen sections stitched together arranged in six panels of three strips each.” (soccerballworld.com). Throughout the next 70 years, leather balls were the only ones in the game and then in the 1970 world cup in Mexico, a revolutionary ball was introduced to the 32-Panel Adidas Telstar ball.
This football was made from synthetic leather patches sewn together in a design based on the ‘Buckminster Ball’ or known as the Buckyball. For the next 36 years Footballs were made in this style with minimal change. In 2006, the Teamgeist. The introduction of a 14-panel construction method means that the number of three-panel touch points is reduced by 60% (60 to 24) and the t
otal length of the panel lines falls by over 15% (400.5 cm to 339.3 cm). Building on the introduction of thermal bonding technology in 2004.
Introduction Of Jabulani
The ball is made from eight spherically molded panels and has a textured surface intended to improve aerodynamics. Nevertheless, the ball received extensive criticism from players and coaches before and during the World Cup who said that the path of the ball through the air was unpredictable.
“The ball was constructed using a new design, consisting of eight (down from 14 in the last World Cup) thermally bonded, three-dimensional panels.
These then are spherically molded from ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU). The surface of the ball was textured with grooves, a technology developed by Adidas called “Grip ‘n’ Groove” that is intended to improve the ball’s aerodynamics. The design has received considerable academic input, being developed in partnership with researchers from Loughborough University, United Kingdom.” (Wikipedia). This table shows that the moulding technique means the ball retains its shape, and the lack of seaming means there is essentially zero water retention, which will reduce sluggishness of the ball.
Personal Experience
Through personal experiences I have been able to conclude that the unpredictability of the ball is both a good and a bad thing. As the unexpected behavior can trick a goal keeper, whilst at the same time, the speed makes control of the ball quite difficult.
Resources
http://www.jabulaniball.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas_Jabulani
http://www.soccerballworld.com/Jabulani_2010.htm
http://www.adidas.com/campaigns/football/content/products.aspx?collection=OMB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas_Teamgeist
http://www.soccerballworld.com/History.htm