Evolution of the World Cup ball

[BarryP]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/06/magazine/20100606-world-cup-balls.html

Interesting.  Any memories of the older balls?

[richie17]

you can buy most of them on ebay - Adidas re-released them in the exact specs as from the first time around.  I have the 1970 version and it's lovely.

[FC Silver Fox]

To my mind (literally), the biggest change was 1966 to 1970. We went from a wet heavy, sometimes round lump of leather that either gave you concussion when you headed it or a double-dotted line across your forehead if you had the misfortune to head the laces and valve.
Then we moved on to a plastic covered football with which you bend passes and shots and not get headaches every Sunday.
The old leather ball tended to be either under-inflated, deadly when wet and almost impossible for a lad to kick more than 20 yards, or over-inflated like a rock. When you headed it, you had to take the recoil factor into account where you neck vertebrae crunched down between your shoulder blades.  Ah, those were the days.

[FC Silver Fox]

I think the most aesthetic ball was 1966 (and not just because we won).