Football, or hugball?

Shrovetide games have been played since the twelfth century, and persist in the form of an annual match in the town of Ashbourne.

There are two teams, two goals, and murder is prohibited. So basically the same rules as the modern game...
Not perfectly spherical, but at least we& #39;re getting there.

Duke & Son, renowned for producing cricket balls and equipment, manufactured this eight-panel ball in the 1870s.

They continued making footballs into the 20th century, but ultimately, it just wasn& #39;t cricket.
Your Badger Footballs are...the very finest I have ever played with; they keep their proper size, shape and weight right through a match."

Duke & Son& #39;s 1902 ball won the approval of @SheffieldUnited skipper Ernest Needham. Player endorsements have come a long way since then...
Moving up to a whopping twelve panels...

Around the turn of the century, more balls featured interlocking leather panels, rather than securing said panels at the poles.

This Super Fine ball hails from around c1930, and features laces and a hole for the pump.
The eighteen-panel football became commonplace by the early parts of the twentieth century.

The & #39;T& #39; ball - named due to its T-shaped panels - was produced around the same period, and was a popular choice throughout the 1940s and 1950s...
While the Telstar& #39;s aesthetic was partly functional - it helped TV viewers pick out the ball - the Tangos were all about looking good. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😎" title="Lächelndes Gesicht mit Sonnenbrille" aria-label="Emoji: Lächelndes Gesicht mit Sonnenbrille">

The & #39;82 España version was the last to be made of leather. In & #39;86, the Azteca became the first fully synthetic ball used at the tournament.
Those Adidas "Buckyball" designs featured 32 sections, but not everyone was convinced that more panels equated to a better ball.

In fact, Garcis went in the opposite direction in 1982, producing this bizarre ball that featured just six panels. Safe to say it didn& #39;t catch on. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😐" title="Neutrales Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Neutrales Gesicht">
As we move towards the millennium, here& #39;s one of the @premierleague& #39;s best: the Nike Geo Merlin.

This was marketed as "the roundest ball ever made". The tech "allowed the bladder to fill out evenly against every panel, ensuring precision sphericity".

Is sphericity even a word?
Finishing up with arguably the most controversial World Cup ball of all: the Jabulani.

For all the academic input and aerodynamic tech, players - goalkeepers in particular - were frustrated by the unpredictable movement of the ball in the air.

Did the science go too far? https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧪" title="Test tube" aria-label="Emoji: Test tube">
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