The First Footballs

At this time football was a completely amateur game, played and organised by ‘gentlemen’. No money was charged to watch matches. Most ‘stadiums’ were just pieces of open ground.

Until 1875, teams changed ends after the scoring of each goal. Tape was used instead of crossbars.

• The first footballs were very different from the ones we use today. Pig's bladders were blown up, and tied at the end like a balloon. Shoemakers then made a leather case for the ball. This looked more like a rugby ball than a modern football.
• In 1862 came the invention of the rubber bladder. This was blown up by another recent invention, the pump.
• Now manufacturers could produce a round ball, it still needed a button at each end. "Buttonless balls" did not arrive until the 1880s.
• There was nothing in the early rules about the size of the ball. Some of those used in the "village" games were enormous. The F.A. Cup rules of October 1872 first introduced a standard ball: the 'Lillywhite's No. 5'.
• The old leather balls usually became very heavy in wet weather. Modern balls have a waterproof coating.-