Football (ball)

A Football, also Pigskin (English for pigskin ), is a ball that is used in American football and its variants. From the shape it resembles an elongated spheroid with pointed ends. The outer skin consists mostly of four brown leather, rubber or plastic pieces. Previously, there were also white footballs that were used in the evening or at night. There are also so-called Tackified - Footballs, which consist of specially prepared synthetic leather pieces with knobs and are mainly used in youth leagues. In oberklassigen leagues such as the National Football League or the German Football League the use of real leather balls is prescribed in lower leagues rubber or plastic balls are often used because they are much cheaper to purchase.

The balls of the National Football League are monochromatic, while the balls in college football are distinguishable only on one half of the ball by two white markings. In Canadian football, these strips are continuous rings.

For the operation of gambling, for example, in the German Football League the ball of the NCAA is standardized:

• Dry weight 396.9 to 425.2 g ( 14 to 15 ounces), slightly lighter than a football
• Longitudinal extent from 70.5 to 72.5 cm, similar to a football
• Length from 27.5 to 29 cm
• Cross circumference 52.7 to 54 cm
• Pressure from 0.86 to 0.93 bar

History

The football was rather flattened at the beginning as the rugby ball and had no sharp ends. This did not change until years after the first legal forward pass in American football in 1906. Prior was run with the ball only, for which no less, good to throwing ball was needed. 1912 form has been changed, in particular the diameter has been reduced. Nevertheless, the football still was very similar to a rugby ball. Only in the late 1920s, it gained its present shape with the eight seams and to some extent the same size, also has the metal valve, due to its many violations have occurred, replaced by a rubber valve. More than 20 years there was no uniform Footballs, so the balls had very different proportions. From the late 1940s there were then in the NFL a permanent regulation on the size of the balls. In 1941 was The Duke, to Wellington "The Duke" Mara presented. Thus, the design of all balls in the NFL was the same. The Duke was until 1970, the merger of the NFL and the AFL, used, then the design was changed. 2006 was resorted back to the old design. The only variable part of The Duke is the signature of the Commissioners that changes in a Commissionerwechsel.