Friday, June 1, 2007

90 Minutes by Angelo Papageorgiou

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90 Minutes A.Papageorgiou




Picture from www.Soccerballworld.com
“In 1855, Charles Goodyear designed and built the first vulcanized rubber soccer balls (footballs).”Rigsby, B. ‘Charles Goodyear’s soccer balls’ www.soccerballworld.com, 2003
The soccer ball; an object en masse considered insignificant. It is seen as always existing. Not only seen on a football/soccer field, it is at parks on the streets and in schools and in the most unimaginable locations. Soccer balls also hold significant sentimental value. It can bee seen resting on mantle pieces, atop trophies and on shirts.
The soccer ball is fairly simple in regards to construction. The four main components of a soccer ball are the cover, the stitching, the lining and the bladder. Consistent of pentagons and octagons the soccer ball is inflated to make a perfect sphere. It is actually quite amazing to see the vast developments in such a simple object over such a short period of time.
Spanned over 14 years of soccer I have seen many soccer balls. When I first began playing patterns on the soccer ball were all relatively simple designs. I can tell the age of a soccer ball judging only by the pattern on it. The designs were relative to the fashion period that was evident in the day. Over time and with the development of new technology, the ball has made a few massive shifts. For instance, the change from leather to synthetic lining and instead of stitching, glue was used. Before 1950 there was no such thing as a white soccer ball. Today that is the main colour used on most soccer balls. The modern soccer balls have intricate designs, technology claiming the ball curves more and that the ball is a true perfect sphere, which slices through the wind a lot smoother. The contextual and social aspects of the soccer ball will change. But one thing about the soccer ball, no matter what age we are in will never change; the spherical shape.

In my father’s era, the soccer ball was deemed as an object of pure recreation and in the 1950s recreation for a poor immigrant was neglected. In Australia especially, soccer was rejected as being the powerhouse of sports. Australian Football was the major vigour pre-1990s. My father came to Australia during the Greek-Italian migration in the 1950s. Boat loads of us came in to this empty land, and yes stock piled the streets with fish and chip shops, fruit shops and others alike.
The migrants flooded the community, and thus making Australia one of the most multicultural countries. “We have received that indefinably precious infusion of ideas from the Continent: new ways of living, looking at life, of painting, architecture, and other emanations of the mind,” said the then Immigration Minister, Alexander Downer (father of the current Foreign Affairs Minister) in 1958. “These are attributes which our rather stodgy Anglo Saxon community are much in need of."
Since there is such a high diversity level in Australia, it begs the question who and what is uniquely Australian? “Football was an Esperanto…”Johnny Warren said “… a universal language. Anywhere you went in the world, you didn't have to speak, just kick, dribble and pass. It was understood — except here, he lamented, where the game he loved was demeaned as "wogball' and played by "sheilas, wogs and poofters", a phrase later reprised for his best-selling autobiography.” Johnston C. ‘Finally Australian Soccer Gets Respect’ The Age Newspaper, 11/18/2005
In this country, everybody is trying to prove that they are “fairdinkum Auzzie”, Europeans are, nowadays calling the Asian Migrants WOGS (“Western/Westernized/Wily/Worthy Oriental/Orientated Gentleman”) and FOBS (Fresh off the Boat). Giving the Asians a similar treatment that which the Anglo’s gave them during their initial years as migrants. However, the Anglo-Australians have been here the longest of all the non-Australians and are constantly competing with the fresh migrants. In all the commotion sport is one of the major areas which we “Australians” feel we need to compete over. There is a high degree of spatial association between that of Football (Soccer) and AFL (Australian Football League). AFL supporters feel that it is their game and it is Australian to follow it.

In the midst of all this chaos, we can define the soccer ball as having varied significance across different cultures and levels of society. On an international scale, the soccer ball represents a uniform structure (the world game). In Australia the soccer ball is an object brought from Europe, and later developed; a rivalry with its counterpart; the Oval ball. In my home the soccer ball represents my family’s ongoing passion for such a beautiful game.

In modern times the soccer ball is now looked upon as an object which screams hope, passion, commitment and to some still a distraction. The religious undercurrent which exists around soccer runs especially deep in my family. The ritual practiced daily can never be interrupted. Centered is the iconic round leather ball. Life just swings by, and they remain, locked away or in a park. Countless numbers of soccer balls bought and just left. Rarely do soccer balls ever get thrown out at 34 Miller Grove. Left there, serving no purpose but just an object representing time. I occasionally look back at my old small soccer balls and some spark old memories of what used to be. Maybe a goal I scored or the distance traveled just to play a 40 minute game on a Sunday morning. Those weathered balls hold values only my family can understand and appreciate.

Below (fig1 Could Not Upload Problem from school computers, shame!) is a picture of an old ball which I played a match with in an under sevens tournament in the Dandenongs. We hired a bus and drove up as a team. In my early years I was actually a goalkeeper, and it was in this tournament that I scored my first goal as keeper. I dribbled the entire field including the other goalkeeper and scored. It was an amazing moment for me, but just another day for others. I still look back on that ball and remember the day I scored as keeper. But to my father the ball represented a whole different avenue of his past. Rather the moving forward in his coaching career, because we did end up winning that tournament. My father has been my coach right through from the age of five to sixteen and still watches all of my games. The amount of soccer balls which circulate throughout the household is phenomenal and be them common, each has a little story connected to it. The soccer balls as a collective can be seen as a miniature time scales of my life as far back as I can remember. Certain balls not only represent past memories of soccer games, but of relationships, and my social surroundings during the certain periods.

1993 Soccer Balls, Photo taken by Author.
As a player of the game for long time I have developed a feel of the soccer ball. I have a certain taste in ball quality. Companies such as Nike and Adidas bring out many ranges of soccer balls; different texture, feel, weight, material and size. So naturally players tend to favour certain brands because their balls a similar feel. I like the new Mitre soccer ball range; they are not too soft and not too hard, they do not wobble and are a great shooting ball. But other players prefer really fluffy balls which carry for a distance in the air after striking. “…and I think really soft balls are easier to control from a free kick…” Di Oreo, J. Richmond S.C.

The Soccer ball is indeed not only a piece of equipment required to play the game of soccer itself. It is a bonding tool; it brings people together, strengthens and forms relationships. It is a catalyst for socializing. My relationship with my family may have not been as strong without the soccer ball. I have become so accustomed around soccer balls; they are a part of my family. If all the soccer balls in my life were to disappear I would most probably suffer long term depression. The importance of the object is quite profound for such a simple piece of equipment. Hearts broken, dreams shattered, lives ruined, lives lost; all this over how this little ball moves around the “battle ground”.

Soccer balls exist amongst the universal sport commonly referred to as “The World Game”. They are taken for granted in our stadiums, parks and in our homes. They are the keys to our own history, and hold stories of victories and sorrow.
Angelo Papageorgiou. For the game!










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