Australian Rules Football is synonymous with Australian culture.
Branded's promotional AFL balls allow you to make them synonymous with your organisation, by putting your company name or logo where you might be more used to seeing the word
SHERRIN. The unique balls are what make this sport so great, however in it's construction it bears certain similarities to other balls. Let's take a closer look.
Step 1: The bladder
As with all
inflatable balls, the inside of all promotional AFL balls contain a bladder. It is inside this bladder that the air is contained, allowing the ball to remain pumped up and in its intended shape. The construction of this bladder is very simple; it is made of either
rubber, or very similar materials. This is an unseen but essential component of your footy.
Step 2: The Leather
If you look closely at a football, you'll notice it is comprised of four separate panels. All these panels are made of
leather, and need to be stitched together to form a cohesive product.
Step 3: Joining the Panels
To create footballs, it is of course necessary to join these panels together. This requires the somewhat arduous task of individually stitching each of them. You can watch how it's done
here. Modern-day construction has begun to eliminate this mundanity, as a machine has been created to give our manufacturers' weary hands a rest. Interestingly, this process is done with the leather panels inside out. This ensures the stitches are on the inside of the ball when the construction is complete. The inside out panels are then folded around the bladder of the ball, and the final panels stitched together.
Step 4: Creating the Shape
Upon completion of the first 3 steps, the promotional AFL balls are nearly complete. If they were simply pumped up and used as is, however, they would be far more pointy than the balls which are used today. If you've ever tried to kick a pointy Sherrin, you'll know it's very difficult, so be thankful for this final step. The nearly-completed product is pumped to about 75%, an amount which leaves the ball malleable enough to be shaped. The corners are then repeatedly pushed into any sort of hard object, in order to flatten them out. Your footy is now ready to go.
Sick of seeing Sherrin plastered all over all of your football's? Get your own brand name or logo written across one. Check out how
here.
