Sports Football and India




Definition of Football

a game in which two opposing teams of 11 players each defend goals at opposite ends of a field having goal posts at each end, with points being scored chiefly by carrying the ball across the opponent's goal line and by place-kicking or drop-kicking the ball over the crossbar between the opponent's goal posts

A clearly defined area in which to play the game. Scoring goals or points by moving the ball to an opposing team's end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line. Goals or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts.

Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football is understood to refer to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears. Sports commonly called 'football' in certain places include: association football (known as soccer in some countries); gridiron football (specifically American football or Canadian football); Australian rules football; rugby football (either rugby league or rugby union); and Gaelic football These different variations of football are known as football codes.



The invention of football

Walter Camp

The man most responsible for the transition from this rugby-like game to the sport of football we know today was Walter Camp, known as the “Father of American Football.” As a Yale undergraduate and medical student from 1876 to 1881, he played halfback and served as team captain, equivalent to head coach at the time

the ball used in the popular team game is not necessarily attributed to one inventor. But most historians agree that one English shoe maker is responsible to the way footballs looks today.

Early footballs where essentially pig’s or other animals’ bladders which were inflated by the power of the human lungs (blowing hot air into them) and then tied and sealed, much like balloons would be sealed – knotted at the end.

As a result, they were often plum or pear shaped, and not round, depending on the size of the individual animal’s bladder.

Before the invention of football as we know it, balls were often prone to exploding, which led to shoemakers selling leather cases to protect the inflated bladders. Shoes and boots makers used leather on a daily base and were the most appropriate to sew the balls leather cases.

Until the 1860, football, soccer and rugby were all played with a plum or pear shape ball made of leather, encasing an inflated animal bladder.

In Europe the first proper football invented is attributed to two shoemakers: Richard Lindon and William Gilbert who invented round and oval shaped balls. Lindon is credited for inventing the Rubber inflatable bladder.

In 1849, at the age of 33, Lindon, who worked just in front of the rugby school in Rugby England, was constantly asked to create footballs for the school’s boys.

As a shoemaker he was regularly receiving leather supply for making shoes and so used to create balls for the boys from leather covered pig’s bladders.

Both Lindon and his wife worked preparing the requested balls. Lindon’s wife was responsible to inflating the bladders by blowing air into them.

This was a dangerous occupation, as many bladders were infected and originated from diseased pigs.

It was around 1862 that Lindon has started looking for an alternative to inflated pig’s rubbers that would be safer than the current practice. For his wife, those efforts came too late. She eventually died by falling ill from inflating too many infected pig’s bladders.

Lindon invented an inflatable inner tube made of natural rubber, instead of the existing animal bladders. Because of the pliability of rubber the shape of the footballs could since be moulded to the shape of a perfect round sphere.

His first prototype was made from such a rubber inflated tube covered with 7 strips of leather, stitched at the end with bottoms on both sides. The ball was almost spherical. This design gained popularity and became the one he used for all footballs he sold.

Since he found inflating the rubber he used too hard to do he invented a brass pump, inspired by a simple ear syringe, which could be used to inflate his footballs without the need to blow them up with ones mouth. Thus he is also credited not only for the invention of football but also for the invention of the air pump.

Until his death, Lindon has never patented the bladder, ball or air pump he invented. 



Football Types

A football is a ball inflated with air that is used to play one of the various sports known as football. In these games, with some exceptions, goals or points are scored only when the ball enters one of two designated goal-scoring areas; football games involve the two teams each trying to move the ball in opposite directions along the field of play.

The first balls were made of natural materials, such as an inflated pig bladder, later put inside a leather cover, which has given rise to the American slang-term "pigskin". Modern balls are designed by teams of engineers to exacting specifications, with rubber or plastic bladders, and often with plastic covers. Various leagues and games use different balls, though they all have one of the following basic shapes:

  1. a sphere: used in Association football and Gaelic football
  2. a prolate spheroid
    • either with rounded ends: used in the rugby codes and Australian football
    • or with more pointed ends: used in American football and Canadian football

The precise shape and construction of footballs is typically specified as part of the rules and regulations.

Football in India

Football is India's second most popular sport, next to the game of cricket Traditionally it has enjoyed popularity in the regions such as West Bengal, Goa, Kerala, Odisha, and the entire north-eastern India, especially Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim.

India's current top domestic league, I-League, was formed in 2007 in an attempt to professionalize domestic football and in 2013 the Indian Super League was formed with 8 teams to promote Indian football to the country and world. Also contested is Santosh Trophy, a knock-out competition between states (provinces) and government institutions. The current captain of the Indian national team is Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and the team is coached by Stephen Constantine. India is currently ranked 100 among the FIFA World Rankings, published in May 2017.

The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup is scheduled to take place in India. By virtue of being the host country, the Indian team will automatically play in the tournament. Depending on the performance of the U-17 team, the All India Football Federation has indicated consideration for a World Cup bid.




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