The first rugby ball

In the early 1800’s the first rugby ball was made. The rugby balls that were made in the 1800’s, were made out of raw pig’s bladder, bladder is a bag that is inside the body and it stores urine (pee).

The pig’s bladder is extremely smelly, so that’s why blowing raw pig’s bladder wasn’t such a popular task, it was also unhealthy. Most people didn’t like the idea of blowing up smelly raw pig’s bladder, so they used a clay stem to blow the bladders up.

At a place called Rugby, two shoe makers started making rugby balls for the local school. The two shoe makers stitched four rubber panels together to make the rugby balls. The rugby balls that were made in the past, depended on the size of the pig and it’s bladder. When the hand pump was invented, the rugby balls were longer inflated by lung power.

Now rugby balls are made out of synthetic materials, and they also have a standard size.