The Football
by David and Carol Kelly
Title
The Football
Artist
David and Carol Kelly
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Footballs are typically made from cowhide or vulcanized rubber, making their nickname "pigskins" somewhat ironic. Football fans often perpetuate the idea that footballs used to be made of pigskin, which is how they got their nickname, but it turns out this isn't the case. "Pigskins" were originally made out of animal bladders - sometimes the bladder of a pig, which is thought to be how the moniker "pigskin" came about. Animal bladders were much more accessible to the average team than more expensive items like leather. When the bladder was inflated, it was mostly round and served well as a ball for gameplay. The only trouble was actually inflating it, which was a pretty disgusting task as you can probably imagine. Eager to ditch the gross task of inflating the bladders, footballs started being made with rubber and cowhide, which made the sport a much more pleasant experience for everyone involved. It is likely that rubber footballs started to be used shortly after Goodyear patented vulcanized rubber, but animal bladders were still relatively commonly used into the 1860s.
Uploaded
September 17th, 2015
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