b'My Soccer BallONE WOULD HARDLYexpect being knockedAnd then in 1836, along came Charles Goodyear unconscious by a foreign object to become awith his rubber vulcanization process. Goodyearcherished memory. Except when that object happensdiscovered that heating latex together with sulphur to be a soccer ball rocketing off the boot of the mostmade the material much less sticky and more resil-famous player in the world. And therein lies a story thatient. The reason was that sulphur atoms form bridges begins with the greatest soccer team ever assembled,between the long molecules of natural rubber, allow-the Hungarian national team of the early 1950s. Theing these to return to their original shape after being Magnificent Magyars led by the incomparable Ferencstretched. Goodyear made hundreds of rubber prod-JOE SCHWARCZ Puskas put together a string of 32 consecutive interna- ucts ranging from hats to calling cards, and in 1855 Dr. Joe Schwarcz istional victories, a feat that has never been matched.made the worlds first vulcanized rubber soccer ball. director of McGillOn the way to Switzerland, the team stopped forThe ball, now on display at the National Soccer Hall Universitys Office fora training session in Sopron, the town where I wasof Fame in Oneonta, N.Y., was made of rubber panels Science and Societyborn. My father somehow managed to get us into theglued together at the seams and was used in 1863 for which has the missionpractice game, and we were allowed to watch fromone of the first known organized soccer games in the of separating sensean area beside one of the goals. Like everyone else, IUnited States. from nonsense. was focused on Puskas, whose powerful left foot hadIn England, they were still blowing up pig bladders, beaten opposing international goalies 84 times in 85but William Gilbert, a boot maker, hit upon the idea of a games. This time though, he missed the net, but didntprotective leather covering. And then H.J Lindon took miss my head. I remember the ball coming towards me,the progressive step of replacing the pig bladder with and then the next thing I can recall is being helped to aone made of Goodyears vulcanized rubber. Soon ball bench, and then into a taxi. The next day was anothermanufacturers found interlocking panels that ran inmemorable one. My father came home with a present.different directions allowed the ball to keep its shape. A soccer ball! Puskas had sent it, he told me, as a sou- In the 1940s chemistry kicked in. Researchers at venir of the event. Frankly, I think my father boughtStandard Oil discovered that isobutylene, could be the ball, but I worshipped it, nevertheless. polymerized to make a synthetic rubber which was That ball was nothing like the balls being kickedessentially impermeable to air, putting an end to the about today. It was made of leather panels stitchedfrustrating task of constantly inflating soccer balls. This together, with a slit through which a rubber bladder hadbutyl rubber also made automatically sealing valves been stuffed inside. As I recall, there were a couple ofpossible, eliminating the need for a laced opening. problems with this ball. When it got wet, it became veryThen the real revolution came. Synthetic leather, made heavy from the water that was absorbed by the leather.of waterproof polyurethane or polyvinyl chloride, Even worse, after a few months of play, it began to losereplaced leather and eliminated the problem of balls its round shape and started to look more like an egggaining weight when wet. Layers of cushioning fabrics than a ball. To us, none of this mattered much.were soon added between the bladder and the cover-At the time of course I didnt realize that this balling, which was now constructed of twenty hexagonal was already a product of a great deal of evolution. and twelve pentagonal panels stitched together with Apparently, the ancient Chinese kicked around a leatherpolyester cord, ensuring perfect roundness. The 2006 ball stuffed with animal hair and cork, and sometimeWorld Cup led to yet another innovation. A ball made in the Middle Ages the British made the first inflat- of only fourteen thermally bonded panels was intro-able bouncing ball. In the meantime, in South America,duced, with virtually no seems, improving bounce and natives had discovered that the latex oozing out of cer- accuracy. While I appreciate the science behind these tain trees could be formulated into small bouncing balls.balls, they certainly dont have the emotional appeal for These rubber balls, though, were sticky and quicklyme as the deformed, battered leather ball I had to leave lost their shape. behind when we escaped from Hungary in 1956.SWINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2021SEEDWORLD.COM /73'