The Sherrin

[seanoff]

I thought this thread was going to be about the merit of Sherrin v Faulkner balls.

what is the merit with Faulkners evil, horrible excuses for footies

 

[smoovy]

what is the merit with Faulkners evil, horrible excuses for footies

Was the ball of choice in the SANFL in the 80s. I am not sure but I think some of the early Crows home games may have used Faulkners.

 

[John Dorian]

In one of my dad's old footy records, an advertisement claim Faulkner was "Australia's Favourite Footy".

 

[Tex_21]

Sherrin>>>>>>>>>Faulkner>Burley

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Something about the smell of a fresh new Tommy...

Amen to that.

 

[Dancing Dougy]

Been proven that a wet leather ball has far greater friction than wet synthetic balls, though we do seem to be playing in wet conditions less and less.

Their is nothing better than a gleaming red Sherrin, could never see it changing.

I was talking with the old man today and we both wondered what has happened to the Ross Faukners? I had one as my very first footy and it was a pearler, but you don't see them anymore.

 

[Ron The Bear]

what is the merit with Faulkners evil, horrible excuses for footies

RF's used to hurt my feet as a kid.

 

[Team Mo']

NFL use the old pigskin and NBA use leather balls as far as I know. Baseball too use leather or what could possibly be some cheap rip off but I always thought it was leather. That is the three biggest leagues in the USA. Leather for soccer isn't a good diea with headers and contorl being two of the most important aspects. Cricket again uses leather.

The AFL also uses leather as a sythetic ball is far too light and will often just follow the wind. It's a bit "amatuer" to use a syntho and can often feel a bit childish. I love my Sherrin and I love that the AFL uses it. Change for the sake of change isn't the best idea as everything can always be different but who says it's better? Why not use bigger goal posts and a fake pitch to save the environment etc. There are many aspects of our game that unique like kicking the ball and handpassing and that is one reason why is it so great...

 

[ibd77]

After watching the showdown saturday night, the game as an overall spectacle was terrible due to the greasy conditions. Would the game benefit with a textured version of the leather ball to help handling or are we happy to leave the ball as it is and have more scrappy games?

Lethal says tinker with Sherrin

Lethal says tinker with Sherrin

www.foxsports.com.au

 

[Electronic_Renaissance]

Would a synthetic ball improve the game under wet conditions?

If so go synthetic.

Burley better than Sherrin. Also better for the torp, which is sadly almost extinct.

 

[Electronic_Renaissance]

Been proven that a wet leather ball has far greater friction than wet synthetic balls, though we do seem to be playing in wet conditions less and less.

Their is nothing better than a gleaming red Sherrin, could never see it changing.

I was talking with the old man today and we both wondered what has happened to the Ross Faukners? I had one as my very first footy and it was a pearler, but you don't see them anymore.

Where did you hear this? Genuinely interested to know more.

Edit: Damn, didn't realise the post was from 2009.

 

[Electronic_Renaissance]

After watching the showdown saturday night, the game as an overall spectacle was terrible due to the greasy conditions. Would the game benefit with a textured version of the leather ball to help handling or are we happy to leave the ball as it is and have more scrappy games?

Lethal says tinker with Sherrin

Lethal says tinker with Sherrin

www.foxsports.com.au

AFL would never allow it but how about a compromise? Like the cricket, Dukes in England and Windies, SG in India, Kookaburra basically everywhere else.

But yeah, I'd rather have a synthetic ball the players can handle in the wet rather than a piece of soap.

 

[Electronic_Renaissance]

Don't like the torp WeMissYouMarkCoughlan ? After seeing Fyfes 70m one on the weekend I say bring it back.

Fyfe is for more likely to nail a torp from 60m out than a set shot from 30m.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

NBA changed their ball from leather to a synthetic surface, and one season later they had to revert back to leather from heaps of complaints by players.

Dont fix what isnt broken

It's not that it ain't broke. It isn't that leather was the only option and they haven't ever gotten around to changing it.

It's by design.

The weight of a footy is by design. The size. The fact it isn't easy to grip. The fact that it gets slippery. The fact that it is aerodynamic.

These are all keys elements to a game of footy - not unfortunate side effects.

Same as a cricket ball being leather. It swings, it gets bashed up. These are keys to the game of cricket.

 

[StillAtLarge]

It's a shame we have so many night games as the dew + the yellow slippery sherrins makes skills harder to execute. Constantly changing the balls doesn't help either, if we were using one consistently for an entire quarter/half it'd start to accumulate grippo from the players' hands...

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

After watching the showdown saturday night, the game as an overall spectacle was terrible due to the greasy conditions. Would the game benefit with a textured version of the leather ball to help handling or are we happy to leave the ball as it is and have more scrappy games?

Lethal says tinker with Sherrin

Lethal says tinker with Sherrin

www.foxsports.com.au

I'm very progressive when it comes to sport.

But only if you're addressing a genuine problem. And not just an annoyance, but a legitimate problem that impacts the overall sport.


The game is meant to be hard, and meant to require high levels of skill to play. Stadiums with roofs are not designed to make it easier for the players - it's designed to make it easier for the fans to sit there, and to prevent games being washed out.


I can't think of any logical reason to make it easier for players to execute their skills. That makes absolutely zero sense to me. It's like lowering the ring in basketball, making less corners on a Formula 1 track, making the ping pong table bigger, or making the hole bigger in golf!

If you change the the ball in footy, you're literally changing the game. The ball is what the game is about!

It's an oval ball that can bounce in any direction at any time, it gets wet, it gets heavy and the wind blows it around. That's a key element of Aussie Rule footy. It's not a problem - it's a fundamental of the game!

 

[Caesar]

I can't think of any logical reason to make it easier for players to execute their skills. That makes absolutely zero sense to me. It's like lowering the ring in basketball, making less corners on a Formula 1 track, making the ping pong table bigger, or making the hole bigger in golf!

There's a balance. Yes, you don't want to make it too easy to execute basic skills (arguably equipment changes in tennis have had that effect).

On the other hand, if you make the game too hard then it introduces too much luck. Nobody wants to see a result created by huge error rates on both sides.

 

[ashep]

Where did you hear this? Genuinely interested to know more.

Edit: Damn, didn't realise the post was from 2009.

Hope Dancing Dougy has his email notifications on!

Edit: oh shit he's still here!

 

[ashep]

I can't think of any logical reason to make it easier for players to execute their skills. That makes absolutely zero sense to me. It's like lowering the ring in basketball, making less corners on a Formula 1 track, making the ping pong table bigger, or making the hole bigger in golf!

This is kind of silly as you're suggesting fundamental changes to those sports as opposed to lessening the impact of adverse conditions. More like mopping sweat off the basketball hardwood, or running wet weather tires.

 

[Caesar]

I found this study kind of interesting:

Microsoft Word - AFL BALL Executive Summary Final April13.docx

Most surprising was the lack of consistency between balls of the same brand - the mass of the Sherrins tested varied by up to 8%. Would have thought there would be stricter quality controls than that.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

This is kind of silly as you're suggesting fundamental changes to those sports as opposed to lessening the impact of adverse conditions. More like mopping sweat off the basketball hardwood, or running wet weather tires.

No - I'm saying that changing the ball in footy to make it easier is the same as changing fundamentals of other sports in order to make it easier for players.

The ball is meant to get wet. It's meant to get slippery. It's meant to be impacted by the wind. That's all actually part of the game.

 

[QuietB]

Bugger that, kicking a leather ball is fantastic, even though the balls take some time to put into the correct shape.

Synthetic isn't suited for AFL, kicking synthetic footys is horrible imo.

A good leather footy pumped up to to the perfect pressure is a thing of beauty. Just the noise it makes is a thing of beauty.

The ends on synthetic balls are a danger to society.

I'll also add, pro football in the USA is leather, MLB is leather, NBA is leather.

 

[kickazz]

I found this study kind of interesting:

Microsoft Word - AFL BALL Executive Summary Final April13.docx

Most surprising was the lack of consistency between balls of the same brand - the mass of the Sherrins tested varied by up to 8%. Would have thought there would be stricter quality controls than that.

It's a problem that I heard talked about on the radio once - they were surprised it doesn't get much more attention.

Not just variance in size, but sometimes there are simply "shit" balls - perhaps partly to blame for those games where everyone seems to have poor skills.

 

[ibd77]

The ball is meant to get wet. It's meant to get slippery. It's meant to be impacted by the wind. That's all actually part of the game.

Pre-docklands stadium agreed, post docklands stadium disagree.

 

[StillAtLarge]

Pre-docklands stadium agreed, post docklands stadium disagree.

lol docklands is slippery as hell! It's always got a layer of moisture that sits atop the rock-hard surface. 20 years on and it's still a debacle, the players hate playing there.