The Ball
There has been much discussion of the Jabulani, the football designed by Adidas that being used in the World Cup. Adidas say that it’s their most accurate ball ever, yet it doesn’t seem to be appreciated by a lot of the players.
It does seem as if players are having trouble controlling it when shooting, as if it doesn’t respond aerodynamically in the way they’re expecting, and it’s possible that playing at altitude may be part of the reason for this. But could there be another factor?
The ball that’s used on the English Premier League is the Nike Total 90 Omni. The manufacturers say that has a special graphic that makes the ball easier to see using peripheral vision. Its yellow colour makes it stand out if it’s in the central part of our vision because the light receptor cells there are particularly sensitive to yellow (the reason why high visibility jackets are yellow). The Jabulani is white with some multi-coloured areas.
What may be important here is not that one ball is necessarily much easier to see than the other, but the simple fact that they are quite different. When a professional footballer kicks a ball, he will be much more accurate in the part of the ball he kicks than a park player. In order to do this, he will have to focus on that particular part of the ball. But he will do it subconsciously, not realising that he’s doing it.
Faced with a different ball design, the subconscious brain will not immediately recognise the correct part of the ball for the shot. The shot is hit less accurately, with the result that it doesn’t follow the intended path.
In time, the brain recalibrates for the new ball. Those who have been training with the ball for longer, such as the Germans, will have an initial advantage. Others will catch up in time, but will they do so quickly enough?
David
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