That old chestnut...the shape of the footy.

[tigermike]

Saw a replay of the 1966 GF tonight and noticed how easily umpire Crouch bounced the ball. Many times in the last qtr he just walked forward and bounced it truly, every time straight up, no sign of any sore shoulders, no bad bounces. Why? Was the ball a bit more rounded at the ends? It looked like it could have been but the AFL keep telling us there has been no change don't they? Here is a photo of KB around that mid-60's era compared to Dusty now. Royce is probably early/mid 70's, Jack Dyer 1930's/40's.


Looks a bit different to me. Is that why they don't like bouncing it now?

 

[fastin bulbous]

Hairstyles change

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

Not sure whether they used a brand new ball in every game back then. Perhaps with use the ball settled into a more rounded shape which enabled more consistent bouncing.

 

[DavidSSS]

It does look a bit more pointy now doesn't it.

The ball Royce has is clearly wider in the middle. Maybe some of those old balls are Ross Faulkner balls? Look at the wording on the balls, different balls possibly. I seem to remember that games could be played either with a Sherrin or a Ross Faulkner back years ago. Now it is only Sherrins and I do recall reading there was a slight difference in shape.

Would be good to see if there are any old balls around to compare.

Does the WAFL still use Burley balls? When I was a kid the ball in WA was a tan Burley, found the red ball a bit strange when we moved to Melbourne.

DS

 

[waiting]

It does look a bit more pointy now doesn't it.

The ball Royce has is clearly wider in the middle. Maybe some of those old balls are Ross Faulkner balls? Look at the wording on the balls, different balls possibly. I seem to remember that games could be played either with a Sherrin or a Ross Faulkner back years ago. Now it is only Sherrins and I do recall reading there was a slight difference in shape.

Would be good to see if there are any old balls around to compare.

Does the WAFL still use Burley balls? When I was a kid the ball in WA was a tan Burley, found the red ball a bit strange when we moved to Melbourne.

DS

Pointier and harder ?

 

[Tenacious]

Watched some of that again and am always amazed at the shoddy kicking skills (compared to what we see today).
It was just an inherent part of the game that drop kicks would occasionally go skew whiff and even straight into the man on the mark - and no big fuss made if it.
Even shortly before Barry BREEN getting that point (and how good was that especially as it was the first of all those wobbles to come) there was a skewed drop kick by a St Kilda player as they drove forward with the scores level and they were lucky it wasn’t swept away by the defence.

 

[tigermike]

Watched some of that again and am always amazed at the shoddy kicking skills (compared to what we see today).
It was just an inherent part of the game that drop kicks would occasionally go skew whiff and even straight into the man on the mark - and no big fuss made if it.
Even shortly before Barry BREEN getting that point (and how good was that especially as it was the first of all those wobbles to come) there was a skewed drop kick by a St Kilda player as they drove forward with the scores level and they were lucky it wasn’t swept away by the defence.

And handball was only used to get out of trouble, so it was one handball then a kick with no handball chains up the ground. Most of the kicking seemed to be just to packs but it's hard to tell because the TV coverage was too close to the action on many occasions, not giving a wider view of players leading up. They just wanted to kick it long in the last qtr. The Saints had more of the play in the last qtr and could have won by more but kicked too many points. Poor old Tuddy had an acre of space ahead of him on the wing in the last minute, could have taken a couple of bounces but he didn't know he was clear and he knew the siren was imminent. So he kicked to a big pack at CHF and the Saints spoiled the mark and took the ball away. Great finish and they are still to win a second flag! We've won 7 since then.

 

[TigerMasochist]

Saw a replay of the 1966 GF tonight and noticed how easily umpire Crouch bounced the ball. Many times in the last qtr he just walked forward and bounced it truly, every time straight up, no sign of any sore shoulders, no bad bounces. Why? Was the ball a bit more rounded at the ends? It looked like it could have been but the AFL keep telling us there has been no change don't they? Here is a photo of KB around that mid-60's era compared to Dusty now. Royce is probably early/mid 70's, Jack Dyer 1930's/40's.
View attachment 9360 View attachment 9361 View attachment 9362 View attachment 9363

Looks a bit different to me. Is that why they don't like bouncing it now?

Half the problem these days is that they try to bounce the ball as high as possible, 8 / 10 metres. Old days as long as it was above the rucks, 3 / 4 metres that was easily enough. The rucks were wrestling half the time n didn't need a galloping run up n monster leap.
They also used one ball per game, unless it went flat. Now they've got a sack of balls behind the goals plus a fresh one to start qtrs with.

 

[TigerMasochist]

I don't know about that TM, the footage from 1989 shows them launching it miles, the difference is no-one seems to care when it is askew.

One thing that has definitely changed is the shape of the footy. Having handled a mountain of new ones in the past five or six years, they are much more pointy on the ends than they ever were. The players always want to warm up with the game ones so they kick them in a bit, otherwise the ends are hard and difficult to kick.

Gotta pay attention TBR. the comment was referencing finals around 66 not 89. One umpire n it was all about getting the ball up n into play as quickly as possible. None of the waggling n pointing directions of exit, or trying to burst the ball every bounce. Not sure when they introduced it, but didn't they even have a launch pad to bounce the ball on at one stage? Pretty sure that's what Shaun Rhen skidded on when he popped his second or third knee.

 

[DavidSSS]

Wonder why they are making the ball more pointy, also seems slimmer too.

I remember as a kid if anyone could actually afford a Sherrin it took quite a while to play it in, when new they were really hard and difficult.

DS