Early soccer balls began as ani
mal bladders that would easily fall apart if kicked too much. As time went on soccer balls developed to what they look like today. This was possible with the help of people like Charles Goodyear, who introduced rubber and his discoveries of vulcanization to the design of soccer balls. Today, soccer balls continue to be modified by scientist for the best performance possible
The early Soccer balls were made of pig bladders, the shape was irregular and the soccer balls were unpredictable when kicked. Charles Goodyear changed all that with rubber.
This is one of the oldest soccer balls. In 1836 Charles Goodyear Patented Vulcanized Rubber and in 1855 he created the first rubber soccer ball.
The charles Goodyear soccer is on display at the National Soccer Hall of Fame - in Oneonta, NY, USA.
Soccer / futball goes way back, I mean... you can't imagine a human kid not wanting to just kick something around. The earliest of balls are thought to have been human heads, animal skulls, bladders and cloth.
255 BC to 220 AD saw animal skin balls dribbled around, Ts'in and Han Dynasties. Ancient Egyptian rites are said by historians to have similarities with football, and both the ancient Greeks and Romans also played a game that entailed carrying and kicking a ball.
There is even a legend that says during medieval times villages would kick a skull to a certain "goal", the opposing village would try to intercept the skull and kick it to their "goal".
Later, bladders of pigs or cows, wre inflated and used as balls. Eventually, the bladders were covered in leather to give the ball a better shape. Also, during medieval times balls were also made from an outer shell of leather filled with cork shavings. Both of these methods made a poor ball that could not withstand being kicked well.
During the 1900’s soccer balls were made out of rubber and leather which was perfect for bouncing the ball, however when heading, hitting the ball with the player's head, the soccer ball it was usually painful. This problem was most likely because of the water absorption of the leather if it rained during the game, causing head injury. Another problem that the early soccer balls had was that they deteriorated too soon. Because of the leather quality the soccer balls varied in thickness and in quality sometimes worsening during the soccer match