Jabulani

The word, in Zulu, means rejoice.

But, in Brazil, few folks could tell you that.

If you say Jabulani around here, people think  football.

More specifically, the football, the one being used in the FIFA World Cup.

And they think crap.

Time was, that the Cup was played-out with balls that had no name, and were brown, like the one above. That changed in 1970, when the event was broadcast live, on television, for the first time.

A ball was required that would be clearly visible in black and white, and Adidas, the German manufacturer, was asked to make one.

They came up with a design that most of us are familiar with today, a sphere with 32 panels, white for visibility, and black to help players detect swerve when the ball is in flight.

Enter the Telstar, named after a communications satellite to which it bore a distant resemblance.

The Telstar was a great success. So much so, that Adidas got the contract to supply World Cup balls ever after. (Or through 2014, at any rate.)

But they didn’t rest on their laurels.

No, they kept on tinkering with the product.

Every new ball got a new name, the Tango, the Azteca, the Tricolore, to name just a few.

And now, God help us, we have the Jubulani.

And devoutly wish we hadn’t.

Because this paragon of the ball maker’s art responds to kicks in an entirely new way.

Former Liverpool player Craig Johnston believes the "erratic, wild and unpredictable" nature of the Jabulani is "contributing to a much poorer World Cup".

England’s coach, Fabio Capello claims  it’s the worst ball he’s ever seen.

 Júlio César, Brazil’s goalkeeper, called it “as unpredictable as one of those cheap balls you’d buy in a supermarket.”

And striker Lúis Fabiano referred to its radical changes of direction as "supernatural".

In the midst of the ruckus, and responding to the complaints, two Brazilian scientists got their hands on a Jabulani and dragged it off for tests in a wind tunnel at the University of São Paulo.

Here’s what they discovered:

The Jabulani has more wind resistance, and therefore loses velocity faster, than any of its predecessors.

But that’s not the major problem.

The major problem is that, at slow speeds, the Jabulani moves through the air pretty much like any other football.

But at speeds above seventy km/h, the direction of motion begins to become erratic.

And becomes more erratic as the speed increases.

How fast is a kick when a striker is shooting at the goal?

Sometimes as much as 140km/h.

See, now, why so many players and coaches are concerned?

And their concerns are mounting.

Games, from here on in, could be decided by penalty kick shootouts.

And how’s that going to work if neither the shooter, nor the goalie, can be sure of the direction that will be taken by the ball?

The FIFA has, at least, acknowledged that there’s a problem.

After the conclusion of the Cup, they’ve agreed to discuss the matter with coaches, teams and Adidas.

Meantime, everyone is just going to have to live with it.

A footnote: the Brazilian experience prompted scientists at Caltech to test the ball on the 23^rd of June. Their results confirm what everyone else has been saying about the Jabulani.

Check it out here:

http://thesoccerroom.com/?p=11968?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Caltech%3A+Jubilani+is+counterintuitive

 Leighton - Monday