[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: ANSWER
- From: "Yvette Charron" <mountainmomma@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2005 10:33:11 -0500
Why is a football called a pigskin? --Ben Schwalb, Laurel, Maryland
Dear Ben:
Because calling it a pig's bladder, which is what it actually is (or was),
is a bit too real even for football players. In the days before vulcanized
rubber, animal bladders were easily obtained, more or less round, readily
sealed and inflated, and reasonably durable--just the thing if you wanted to
play the medieval equivalent of soccer. In later years the bladder might be
covered with leather (not necessarily pigskin) for added protection.
The main drawback of a pig's bladder was that inflating it by way of the
obvious nozzle was too grotty for words. Still, it was an improvement over
what the English traditionally regard as the original football, namely the
noggin of an unsuccessful Danish invader. If you were offended by the
aesthetics of this you could always stuff a leather casing with hay or cork
shavings or the like, but such balls lacked zip.
Happily for the sensibilities of modern youth, pig's bladders faded from the
scene not long after intercollegiate football began in 1869. One account
indicates rubber bladders were being used in 1871 and they were probably
around long before that, Charles Goodyear having patented vulcanization in
1844. Couldn't have been too soon for me.
The real question here, if you don't mind my saying so, is how footballs got
to be prolate spheroids ("round but pointy," for you rustics) rather than
perfectly spherical. As usual with these pivotal episodes in history, it was
an accident. Henry Duffield, who witnessed the second Princeton-Rutgers game
in 1869, tells why:
"The ball was not an oval but was supposed to be completely round. It
never was, though--it was too hard to blow up right. The game was stopped
several times that day while the teams called for a little key from the
sidelines. They used it to unlock the small nozzle which was tucked into the
ball, and then took turns blowing it up. The last man generally got tired
and they put it back in play somewhat lopsided."
The odd shape of the ball, eventually enshrined in the rules, was turned to
advantage with the introduction of the forward pass in 1906, which was made
possible by the fact that you could grip the ball (barely) around the narrow
part. Passing got a lot easier in the 1930s when the rules committee ordered
the watermelon of previous decades slimmed down by an inch and a half,
opening the door for the modern aerial game. How fortunate for the future
shape of the game that the Ivy Leaguers of yesteryear didn't have any more
lung power than today's.
A true football story - Playing the Game
During the first world war was a company commander in the 8th Battalion,
East Surrey Regiment. On 1 July 1916 his men were to be part of the first
attack on Montauban Ridge on the Somme. He was concerned about how his men
would react as they had not been in an attack before.
Whilst on leave a few days before the battle was to begin, he bought four
footballs, one for each of his platoons.
On his return to the battlefield he offered a prize to the first platoon to
kick their football up to the German trenches when the attack began. Nevill
kicked off and his men dribbled and kicked their footballs as they advanced
through heavy machine gun fire. There were many casualties - but the ridge
was captured.
The winning platoon was unable to collect their prize because sadly Captain
Nevill was killed in the attack. One of his footballs is in the National
Army Museum and another is in the Queen's Regiment Museum, Howe Barracks,
Canterbury.
Yvette
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