The AFL ball is unique among the known ball sports of the world. The Rugby and American Football balls come close in similarties of the Sherrin and Burley but all fall short. Taken and summarized from the Australian game of Football book originally written by James Weston.

Evolution of the AFL Football from pig bladder to latex. Click for a bigger version.

In the mid 1850′s William Gilbert rugby balls were widely used, however because they were created from pig’s bladders the balls varied in size and shape depending on the bladder. Another problem was that it took someone to manually blow air in the bladder and one Richard Lindon died from inhaling a diseased bladder, this among other incidents meant that galvanized rubber was used instead.

The History of the Sherrin

It was not until 1877 that specs for the ball was ruled: A Number two sized rugby ball (66 cms in circumference). The 1870′s was also when Thomas William Sherrin who previously worked at a saddlery started his own football factory and they were so successful that when the Australasian Football Council was formed they used the Sherrin’s ball measurements as the standard. 59-62cm in diameter and 75-78cms in longitudinally.

The History of the Faulkner

The Faulkner while not as in common use as the Sherrin was preferred by certain VFL captains well into the modern era. The Faulkner ball started into the football market in the 1930′s and tried to re brand his footballs as “Ross Faulkner’s Native Brand” due to his friendship with Doug Nicholls an aboriginal footballer from the Murray region same as Ross Faulkner.

The History of the Burley

Western Australia never used round balls unlike many of the other states but it was not until 1907 when an East Perth carpenter Jack Burley designed a trial ball for a game between East Fremantle and West Perth. The Burley ball is more rounder and yellow (Yellow Sherrin’s came after wards for night use) and is used in the WAFL and many other leagues around Australia.

The Process of Making the AFL Football

First of all you match four groups of leather (similar in feel and stretch pattern) and then back the leather with canvas, which assists in water proofing and holding the ball in shape. Then it is ‘Three-quarter sewn’ inside out (Three of the four longitudinal seams are machine sewn, canvas side facing out) and then the sides of the Football is pushed into shape from within. The latex bladder is then inserted and the fourth seam is hand stitched. This usually takes from 20 – 30 minutes for each ball.

How to Spot a Good Football from a Dodgy One

All four panels of the ball must come from the same part of the hide or the ball quickly go out of shape. The way to tell is if the seams do not form a perfect cross.

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