Footballonomics

From Indicus Blog

• Football originally referred to a variety of games in Medieval Europe, which were played on foot as opposed to the horse-riding sports such as polo.
• A football is eleven inches long and weighs between 14 and 15 ounces.
• In Europe, early footballs were made out of pig’s bladders, which were inflated.
• Richard Lindon, a shoemaker from the town of Rugby (1880) invented the first football with rubber bladder. His wife died of lung disease caused by blowing up pig’s bladders!
• In 1855, Charles Goodyear — who had patented vulcanized rubber — made a spherical rubber football.
• Indoor soccer is popular in Latin America, where it is often played in open air venues.
• Paralympic football includes football for visually impaired athletes, athletes with cerebral palsy, athletes with amputations, and that for athletes with hearing impairments.
• In Crab Football players stand on their hands and feet and move around on their backs while playing football as normal.
• Electrical Wheelchair Soccer, Beach Soccer and Swamp Soccer are popular across various parts of the globe today.
• The first ever recorded use of a dugout was in the early 1920s at Pittodrie Stadium, Scotland where the trainer Donald Coleman hid himself partly to protect himself and partly not to block spectators’ views of the game while taking detailed notes of his players during matches.