The descendants of the pig’s bladder, the history of balls: from the leather T-model to the Trionda, with a 500 hertz sensor

All soccer balls are descendants of the pig’s bladder, which, properly swollen and knotted, its evacuation duct was used in the prehistory of this game until good saddlers covered it with long-lasting leather. The first Regulations, drawn up in October 1863 at Fremason’s Tavern in London, did not specify anything about the ball. It seems that he didn’t give it importance. Only in 1872 did they regulate its size (between 27 and 28 inches in circumference, 68.58 and 71.12 centimeters), its weight (between 14 and 16 ounces, that is, from 368 to 425 grams “at the start of the game”) and its pressure, between 0.6 and 1.1 atmospheres. The “at the start of the game” is included because on rainy days it could increase its weight by up to 50%.

First, impermeability, and then perfect sphericity, have been the obsessions that have traced its evolution, always with the World Cup as a reference and in four well-distinguished stages: the first, that of soft balls; the second, from Brasil’1950, with direct access to the camera; the third, with the emergence of Adidas (Mexico’1970) and its chain of designs and waterproof materials; and the fourth, always with Adidas, marked by the incorporation of the chip, starting with Russia’2018. Quite an evolution for a ball.

In Uruguay’1930 the T-modelalready used in the Olympic Games. Paris’1924 and Amsterdam’1928, both won by Uruguay. It was composed of eleven T-shaped leather panels, sewn by hand. The opening, called tiento, to inflate the inner rubber chamber, was closed with a leather cord that could scratch and even hurt the forehead, which is why many defenders protected it with a handkerchief. The ball called Tiento was also used, with 12 elongated panels in the shape of a double mushroom. It was the favorite of the Argentines, who with the T-model had lost the 1928 Olympic final to Uruguay. So before this, the first World Cup in history, there was a strong discussion that the Belgian referee, Langenusresolved in the Solomonic way: the first half would be played with the Tiento and the second with the T-model.

At half-time Argentina was winning 1-2 with its ball; In the second half, the Uruguayans came back to lead 4-2. Because of cabalism, because of familiarity with the ball or because they hit a lot and the Argentines crumpled, as the Buenos Aires press said, the fact is that the Uruguayans won. In Italy-1930, the Federal-102 It was very similar to the Tiento, only the cord was not leather but softer brown cotton. But it proved fragile, and the final, Italy-Czechlosvakia, had to be played with Zigzag English, a variant of the T-model.

In France’1938, football registered its first and fleeting advertising intrusion, and it came via the ball. He Allen It was like the Federale-102 but with the white cord, which gave it a flirty look. The referee took him to the center of the field and placed him, with the Allen label clearly visible, on a pedestal, facing the photographers during the draw between the captains, the Italian Meazza and the hungarian Confus. In the same photograph you can see, behind the referee, the ball that was going to be played with, without a mark.

The first great advance came in Brasil’1950 thanks to three Argentines, Romano Polo, Antonio Tosolini and Juan Valbonesiwho patented a touchless ball, inflatable through a hole in one of its twelve leather panels. They called him Supercall Duplo-T. The tiento ball, whose inevitable bulging caused abnormal bounces, disappeared forever from official football, although it continued to be sold in stores until the sixties. In Spain, prisoners made it as a way to shorten their sentences.

In Switzerland in 1954, the leather was dyed yellow to make it stand out more. He was called Swiss World Champion and its 18 pieces of leather were already linked with nylon threads. It rained a lot and he was criticized for carrying too much water. In the final, which went down in history as The Miracle of Bernbecame very heavy, to the pain of the Magyar artists. In Sweden’1958, FIFA organized a competition between 102 firms, which was won by Top Starwith models in white, yellow and beige. Its 24 panels were waxed to protect themselves from water. White was used mostly, including the final, which Brazil won. Skin to the host, Sweden. The Frenchman scored with that ball Just Fontaine 13 goals, still a record.

The one from Chile’1962, Mister Crackpresented a revolutionary design of 16 hexagonal panels and two in the shape of a pillow with a greater sensation of sphericity, as well as a new type of valve, in latex. In the absence of Pelé, he consecrated Garrincha. The one in England’1966 was the Challenge Starchosen from among 100 proposals, and returned to a design similar to the previous ones. The colors white, yellow and orange alternated, and this was the one chosen for the final. This allowed us to see the lime stain very marked after bouncing over the German’s goal line. Tilkowsky after the famous shot Hurstproof that he did not enter.

And then Adidas arrived, in Mexico ’70, and it did so to stay until today. Its premiere was called Telstarlike the satellite that allowed the previous championship to be seen live from anywhere in the world. Inspired by Mr. Crack, he built it with 20 white hexagons and 12 black pentagons, which was groundbreaking. That arrangement of panels was maintained until well into this century. The one in Germany’1974 was called Telstar -urlastalluding the surname to the waterproofing plastic coating, and already had the Adidas, Telstar-Durlast and Official World Cup. We were in the years of the emergence of sports marketing. From now on, they would all be advertising balls.

For Argentina’1978, the World Cup Kempesthe German manufacturer presented the Tangoactually the Telstar with a new, very successful appearance. It was white, decorated with black triangles with curved sides that drew circles among themselves, producing an effect of perfect roundness. That design lasted until France’1998, with variations on the black background of the triangles. In 1982 it was called Tango Spain and introduced polyurethane. Goodbye to leather, always benefiting waterproofness. That ball made Italy champion to the happiness of the old and venerable Pertini. In Mexico’1986, the championship of the mischief of Maradonahe Azteca It featured Aztec gretas in the black triangles; in Italy’1990 Unique Etruscan It showed three heads of lions inspired by Etruscan art; in the United States’1994, the Questra alluded to space exploration with planets, stars and rockets; and in France’1998, the Tricolor It carried the three colors of the French flag introduced with the help of the silhouette of a rooster, with a tail of three feathers, like the Adidas stripes.

During all that time, the German brand was experimenting with new materials using Porsche’s wind tunnels. The Tricolore took a big leap by including a synthetic foam with resistant gas-filled microspheres, which caused greater flight speed. Adidas was looking for a very reactive ball with a lively bounce, which, when hit well, would take very marked effects. For the goalkeepers, each advance was a problem, since their habits changed and they had to re-educate their automatisms. In some cases, the exterior decoration altered visual perception. The latter accused him Oliver Kahn in the final against Brazil in Korea and Japan’2002, where the Fevernova (of fever and supernova) broke the aesthetic line started in Mexico’1970 to be decorated with four trines on the white background that suggested wind turbines, in favor of renewable energies. They were green with a golden edge and some fiery red spots. For the final, the gold started to take the role of the green and vice versa. In Germany’2006, the Temgeist (team spirit), he replaced the very old hexagons and pentagons with 14 panels, six in the shape of a helix, white like the rest of the ball but with a thick black and gold border. For the first time the panels were not sewn, but joined by heat sealing. It achieved 99% perfection in the sphericity test.

His successor was Rejoice (celebration, in Zulu language), eight panels and perfect sphericity, white with four rounded triangles. It wore eleven discreetly distributed colors, as many as there are players per team. He proved a pain for the goalkeepers due to his behaviour, with unpredictable cornering when approaching 100km/h. All the goalkeepers disowned him, calling him a “plastic ball.” Curiously, it was a goalkeeper who lifted that World Cup. Casillas. It turned out better Brazuca of Brazil’2014. The word ‘brazuca’, chosen after a vote in which one million people participated, represents pride in the Brazilian way of living). Adidas worked extensively with 600 top-level soccer players and 30 teams of scientists to create this new model, with six identical helix-shaped panels, a zigzag pattern and a color that represented Brazilian lucky bracelets. There was no luck for Brazil, as they lost with a crash 1-7 against Germany, then champions. But it worked. The secret was some slight grooves that corrected the plastic ball effect of the Jabulani.

He Telstar-18 of Russia 2018 linked the past and the future. It consisted of six panels, but the drawings evoked the 20s of Telstar from Mexico ’70, although the black hexagons were pixelated, to give it a futuristic air. In the second phase black was replaced by red and was called Telstar Metchadream or ambition in Russian. With that ball Spain gave its more than 1,000 touches for nothing on the day of its elimination. The great advance was a chip in its geometric center linked by cables to the inner surface of the sphere to transmit speeds, trajectories, hitting power and so on. The smart ball was born, later evolved in the Al Rihla (trip) of Qatar’2022. It had 20 polyurethane panels with bright colored lines. For the semifinals and final they were more subdued, with the tone of desert dusks, and the name was changed to Al Hilm (the dream). It was faster than anyone else. It had a spherical core known as CRT-CORE, also linked by cables to the inner surface, which allowed the exact moment of the hit to be automatically specified to measure offside and whether or not the ball had crossed the goal line.

Now waiting for us in the United States, Mexico and Canada’2016 is the recently presented Triondaanother twist, a balloon with a built-in 500 hertz sensor. Its four helix panels bear the national colors of the three countries, blue, green and red, and representative drawings of them, a star, eagle and maple leaf. The transmission system is no longer in the core, but in one of the four panels, counterbalanced in the remaining three. It has been provided with raised details to help its stability in flight.

That pig bladder is now technological cutting edge. To be continued.