Is my new soccer/football broken?

March 9, 2014 3:16 AM

I'm on vacation solo and bought my husband a really cool soccer ball, but the store did a bad job of deflating it, and cracked the outer shell. Will it be okay when I inflate it again, or should I be looking for a backup gift?

Sorry if this is a silly question, but I don't actually know if the airtight seal comes from the outer layer or the inner structure.

posted by scrute to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

Best answer: There's a latex bladder inside, normally. The shell, which is often just stitched together, usually isn't airtight. It should inflate without any problems.
posted by pipeski at 4:32 AM on March 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks!
posted by scrute at 6:59 AM on March 9, 2014

If you think your SO might be interested in some local colour, this is the background. Basically there's a rubber ball inside a leather cover: the rubber gives it bounce and roundness, the leather gives it shape and weight. That shape and weight are specified by FIFA: Laws of the game, (page 15, rule 2). Although the leather will often soak up water as you play, in English weather anyway, so they only specify the dry weight.

(Not to sound like one of the four Yorkshiremen, but when I was a lad a real leather football would last until every bit of the leather had disintegrated. Of course, we had it tough...)
posted by danteGideon at 12:08 PM on March 9, 2014