The much-criticised World Cup football has received mixed reaction from players now that it is actually being used in tournament matches. There had been a torrent of criticism for the Jabulani ball, which was made especially for South Africa 2010, and was unveiled amid much fanfare by adidas, the company that makes the ball.
But after the first couple of games opinions differed, perhaps reflecting the difference in altitude rather than the ball itself. The opening day was toughest at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium 1,740 metres above sea level. “It is a problem,” said South Africa midfielder, Kagisho Dikgaco. “It’s difficult, when you have a long ball coming towards you and it’s waving around. But they’re not going to change the ball now.”
In Cape Town, at sea level, there was qualified praise from Diego Forlan to partly balance out the complaints and cautious punching by the keepers. “It’s a good ball, it’s better,” said the Uruguayan. “The problem is when you play in the altitude then it’s really quick. It’s harder to control, quicker coming to you.”
This contrasted with the general level of criticism beforehand, expressed most graphically by Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo. “The ball is horrible, it’s hard to believe that such a ball will be used in a World Cup,” he said. “The other ball is like a nagging woman: you kick her and she’s still there. This one is like a spoiled little rich kid, who doesn’t want to be kicked in any way.”
It isn’t just South Americans brought up on makeshift pitches and improvised balls; most players dislike it. That the handful of favourable reviews emerged from men partially remunerated by sponsorship deals with the manufacturer hardly helps adidas’ case — but it wasn’t meant to be this way.
The Jabulani was part designed in England by Dr Andy Harland, who has a PhD and a decade’s experience in “engineering” footballs. Dr Harland’s expertise measuring the flight of spherical objects and a wind tunnel at Loughborough University, were used to confirm that it is “the most stable and most accurate adidas ball ever”.
Like its in-house predecessors, the Jabulani is stitchless. A reduced number of panels and a new configuration of aerodynamic grooves are claimed to “provide unmatched flight characteristics”. So what’s gone wrong? By Dr Harland’s account, they simply don’t kick consistently enough.
The Jabulani isn’t any lighter than previous designs, but the revised aerodynamics do mean it flies through the air 5% faster. A higher velocity, says the scientist, means that small variations in striking angle can result in increased changes in the travel of the ball. The high altitude at which some matches are being staged could further increase ball speed and flight variation.
“I realise a number of players have made complaints,” says Dr Harland. “But with the best will in the world, there isn’t a player who can kick the same way twice. Our kicking robot can.” Strike it the same way, however, and according to Dr Harland’s wind-tunnel tests the Jabulani will respond more consistently than any before it. “Footballers should be rewarded for their skill by a ball that responds uniformly. The desire wasn’t to flummox the players with unpredictable flight.”
Holland knew they were in trouble when assistant coach, Philip Cocu, tried kicking it around at the team’s South African training base with Frank Rijkaard. If two of the finest strikers of a ball in the nation’s storied history couldn’t handle the Jabulani what were they to do? As for England, the ball was offered directly to the FA in February, but opportunities to use it with the team were limited; there were just two training sessions before each of two Wembley friendlies this year.
England are, in any case, contracted to use Umbro balls as part of their own sponsorship deal, although the squad has used the Jabulani continually since assembling on 17 May.
Frank Lampard is one player who has spoken favourably about the Jabulani. He has been acquainted with it longer than most, from the design phase at Loughborough University.
“This ball is quite true in its flight when you hit it cleanly, which is what you want,” he has said. “There is obviously a lot of human error in football, on certain days you catch the ball wrong [and] as players we look to criticise ... If players are moaning about the size or the weight I think that is probably just football players.”
Lampard’s Chelsea team-mate, Petr Cech, has also been fairly positive about the ball. “At first when I saw the ball I thought very nice ball but is it going to be disturbing much when it flies? I would say no, because when the ball is in the air you hardly see too much colours because the white one is really dominant so, in this respect no problem for the goalkeeper,” Cech said.
“As I said it is nice to catch, it feels good in the hands as well as kicking, it has a good control when I try to kick it. I like even the way that there is not many cuts on the ball, it is quite solid and all together so this is a new for me as well.”
Adidas has a seven-year contract, for which the firm paid £200m, to be official ball suppliers to Fifa between 2007 and 2014. Of the firm’s annual global income of around £8.5bn, some £1bn is from football products, including kits and balls. Adidas hopes to sell around 15m Jabulani balls in 2010, ranging in cost (retail prices) between £14.99 and £80. Those potential ball sales are believed to be worth around £60m this year.
The ball was used at the 2010 African Nations Cup and in leagues in South Africa, Argentina and the USA
