b'SENSE, NONSENSE AND SCIENCEBY: JOE SCHWARCZMY SOCCER BALLO ne would hardly expect beingball, now on display at the National Soccer knocked unconscious by a for- Hall of Fame in Oneonta, N.Y., was made of eign object to become a cher- rubber panels glued together at the seams ished memory. Except when that objectand was used in 1863 for one of the first happens to be a soccer ball rocketing offknown organized soccer games in the U.S. the boot of the most famous player in theIn England, they were still blowing up world. And therein lies a story that beginsSometime in pig bladders, but William Gilbert, a boot with the greatest soccer team ever assem- the Middle Agesmaker, hit upon the idea of a protective bled, the Hungarian national team of theleather covering. And then H.J Lindon early 1950s. The Magnificent Magyarsthe British madetook the progressive step of replacing the led by the incomparable Ferenc Puskas putthe first inflatablepig bladder with one made of Goodyears together a string of 32 consecutive inter- bouncing ball. vulcanized rubber. Supposedly he was national victories, a feat that has nevermotivated by his wifes death from a lung been matched.disease caused by blowing up too many pig On the way to Switzerland, the teambladders! Soon ball manufacturers found stopped for a training session in Sopron,that interlocking panels that ran in differ-the town where I was born. My fatherent directions allowed the ball to keep its somehow managed to get us into the prac- round shape. tice game, and we were allowed to watchThen in the 1940s chemistry kicked from an area beside one of the goals. LikeAfter all, we had a ball to play with. Andin. Researchers at Standard Oil discov-everyone else, I was focused on Puskas,what a ball! One that had (maybe) beenered that isobutylene, could be polym-whose powerful left foot had beatentouched by the great Puskas! erized to make a synthetic rubber which opposing international goalies 84 times inAt the time of course I didnt realizewas essentially impermeable to air, put-85 games. This time though, he missed thethat this ball was already a product of ating an end to the frustrating task of con-net, but didnt miss my head. I remembergreat deal of evolution.Apparently, thestantly inflating soccer balls. This butyl the ball coming towards me, and then theancient Chinese kicked around a leatherrubber also made automatically sealing next thing I can recall is being helped toball stuffed with animal hair and cork,valves possible, eliminating the need for a bench, and then into a taxi. The nextand sometime in the Middle Ages thea laced opening. And then the real rev-day was another memorable one. My fatherBritish made the first inflatable bouncingolution came. Synthetic leather, made came home with a present. A soccer ball!ball. In the meantime, in South America,of waterproof polyurethane or polyvinyl Puskas had sent it, he told me, as a sou- natives had discovered that the latexchloride, replaced leather, and eliminated venir of the event. Frankly, I think myoozing out of certain trees could be for- the problem of balls gaining weight when father bought the ball, but I worshippedmulated into small bouncing balls. Thesewet. Layers of cushioning fabrics were it, nevertheless. rubber balls, though, were sticky andsoon added between the bladder and the That ball was nothing like the ballsquickly lost their shape. covering, which was now constructed of being kicked about today. It was made ofAnd then in 1836, along came Charlestwenty hexagonal and twelve pentagonal leather panels stitched together, with a slitGoodyear with his rubber vulcanizationpanels stitched together with polyester through which a rubber bladder had beenprocess. Goodyear discovered that heat- cord, ensuring perfect roundness. The stuffed inside. The bladder was inflateding latex together with sulphur made the2006 World Cup led to yet another inno-with a pump, tied up, and the openingmaterial much less sticky and more resil- vation. A ball made of only fourteen ther-laced shut like a shoe. As I recall, thereient. The reason was that sulphur atomsmally bonded panels was introduced, with were a couple of problems with this ball.form bridges between the long mole- virtually no seems, improving bounce and When it got wet, it became very heavycules of natural rubber, allowing these toaccuracy. While I appreciate the science from the water that was absorbed by thereturn to their original shape after beingbehind these balls, they certainly dont leather. Even worse, after a few monthsstretched. Goodyear made hundreds ofhave the same emotional appeal for me as of play, it began to lose its round shaperubber products ranging from hats to call- the deformed, battered leather ball I had and started to look more like an egg thaning cards, and in 1855 made the worldsto leave behind when we escaped from a ball. To us, none of this mattered much.first vulcanized rubber soccer ball. TheHungary in 1956.EUROPEAN-SEED.COMIEUROPEAN SEED I 41'