Conclusion
Footballs bridge the gap between life in the Middle Ages and today, taking shape in the mishmash of folk-kicking games that morphed into various regulated regional codes in the 1800s. As each regional game distinguished itself from its folk origins, the balls adapted to those circumstances, morphing over time and becoming less interchangeable. Today, you could play American football with a soccer ball, but you would not want to, and it would be far more challenging to play soccer with the ball used on the gridiron.
Although soccer and rugby balls have changed since the football codes began splitting in the mid-1860s, the gridiron football has experienced more significant change due to fundamental changes in the game itself. American football's early embrace of carrying the ball led to a preference for a smaller ball, and its adoption of the forward pass, which broke rugby's fundamental offside rule, led to the ball becoming more aerodynamic. The changes in the ball's shape were echoed when Canadian football made similar changes to its game.
Changing the Ball's Shape and Size
The football's size and shape have varied, with the importance placed on the three methods of moving the ball: kicking, rushing, and passing. The football's original shape and size were a function of the size and shape of inflated animal bladders that were later covered with leather to make them more durable. While balls varied in size and shape, variations in local game rules led to preferences regarding the ball's shape. Those playing football at The Rugby School scored goals by kicking the ball over the crossbar, so they preferred ovalish rather than round balls. When the local cobblers received pigs' bladders that were more oval, they used them for their Rugby School customers, emphasizing the oval shape when covering those balls.
That dynamic changed with the invention of the rubber bladder because the ball's size and shape now resulted from a deliberate choice rather than random variations in pigs' bladders. Those balls were rounder than the prolate spheroid used today, but the more notable feature was their size, running 30 inches in circumference, or larger than a modern basketball. Balls of that size and shape worked well in games where the ball was kicked rather than carried. Although rugby allowed carrying the ball, it was primarily a kicking game until American preferences and rules of the 1870s and early 1880s led to an emphasis on carrying the ball. Rugby followed a similar path over the next decade.
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