World Cup ball’s Brit designer wants to give ‘winning’ advice to England team
June 1st, 2010 - 5:32 pm ICT by ANILondon, June 1(ANI): The World Cup ball’s British designer Dr. Andy Harland has promised to give insider tips regarding the ball to the Three Lion’s stars, which could give them the edge over their rivals.
The Adidas Jabulani has come in for a volley of criticism from players, but Dr. Harland reckons that is just because the England players are not used to it.
“I’d happily tell Fabio Capello everything about the ball. It would probably give him and the players a slight advantage in South Africa, there’s no doubt about it. It could be the difference between winning and losing,” The Mirror quoted Dr. Harland, as saying.
“There are certain things you can do to make the ball act differently, the way you kick it for example. Then there’s the way it acts at high altitude. There are subtle differences which I’m happy to tell Fabio all about,” he added.
The 34-year-old, who designed the ball with a team of university researchers from Loughborough, admitted that he was baffled that no one from the England camp had approached them about it.
“I’m astonished nobody has contacted us for inside knowledge,” Dr. Harland said.
The Jabulani, which means ‘to celebrate’ in Zulu, has a band of 11 colours representing 11 players in a team and the 11 South African tribes.
The ball for the final, the Jo’bulani, will have a gold band.
It is made of natural latex and woven fabric, with eight foam rubber panels - Adidas’s 2006 World Cup ball, the Teamgeist, had 14. (ANI)
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Tags: dr andy, england camp, england players, england team, fabio capello, foam rubber, gold band, harland, high altitude, insider tips, jabulani, natural latex, no doubt, south african tribes, subtle differences, teamgeist, university researchers, volley, woven fabric, zulu