
Inventing a Soccer Ball for Poor Countries - mhb
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/09/giving/the-one-world-futbol-promises-a-lasting-source-of-fun-in-poor-countries.html?hp
======
nicpottier
I live in Rwanda and see kids playing with the trash/string balls all the time
(among other toys they build out of random waste). I really don't see the
point. The kids have plenty of fun with their homegrown balls.

Just as the cardboard box the toy came in came be more fun than the toy alone,
the fun of playing with a ball doesn't come from it being a 'proper' ball, but
rather than it is a game to be played with others.

This is a first world solution to a problem that it created to make itself
feel warm and fuzzy inside.

~~~
NathanKP
I've never played soccer with a ball made of trash but I'm sure that this ball
would be seen as better by any child comparing it to a ball made of trash.

Sure first world quality soccer balls aren't necessary for children to have
fun, but there is nothing wrong with an intelligent entrepreneur making them
available to third world children.

If we all spent more time on projects like this instead of the next Twitter,
or designing new weapons the world would arguably end up a better place.

~~~
DanBC
> but there is nothing wrong with an intelligent entrepreneur making them
> available to third world children.

Unless money is diverted from more useful projects to buying balls?

I don't have enough information to say. Personally, I think this is a good
project.

~~~
NathanKP
_Unless money is diverted from more useful projects to buying balls?_

Fair enough. If this project siphoned off money that would have been used to
provide food or medical aid then it could be seen as a waste. But it sounds
like there is a mix of corporate sponsors providing money and a One Laptop Per
Child style "buy two, get one" program for the general public.

~~~
Gregorein
Fair? I don't think so: the "waste" is providing the money for food, instead
of teaching them how to farm their own food, teaching them where and how to
build good well. And the most important (so I think) – Giving them their
original African seeds instead of our weaker and GMOded one

It's like giving them a fish instead of a fishing pole… If we will provide
them food, they'll grow even more dependent on us :/

Is that fair?

~~~
hosh
Yes, there are things lower down on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs that should be
addressed. However, it is not the only thing. I grew up in an international
community in the US, playing street soccer with people from different
nationalities. We didn't play with trash. But I can tell you first-hand, being
able to bond with other kids (of different ages) and having fun is very
important.

Is it as important as teaching children how to farm their own food? It is very
difficult to learn when you are not having fun. Children -- even adults --
learn best from play. I don't see the harm in having something that brings the
neighborhood kids together.

There's also a big myth that people of the Third World don't know how to farm,
don't know how to feed themselves. In the past, NGOs have brought in modern
farming technologies that ultimately devastated the local environment and the
ability for the communities to feed themselves. It's been a big problem, it
isn't just about those "lazy" and "ignorant" Third World farmers who don't
know how to farm and feed themselves.

Projects like the Open Source Ecology are much better suited for ... "teaching
them how to farm their own food", and they need people. If you're concerned
about this one entrepreneur and want to do something about it, see what you
can contribute to OSE.

------
Goronmon
_Then he happened to be having breakfast with Sting, a friend from his days in
the music business. Mr. Jahnigen told him how soccer helped the children in
Darfur cope with their troubles and his efforts to find an indestructible
ball. Sting urged Mr. Jahnigen to drop everything and make the ball. Mr.
Jahnigen said that developing the ball might cost as much as $300,000. Sting
said he would pay for it._

Well...that's always helpful.

~~~
kanamekun
True! However what's amazing is that with a vision like this, he could have
pretty easily funded this through Kickstarter... and given out indestructible
soccer balls as a reward. I would've funded something like this in a second...
it's a powerful vision.

~~~
NathanKP
Essentially they do the same thing as One Laptop Per Child. You buy one and a
third world child gets one. They didn't go through Kickstarter but I think the
model they use is more effective anyway.

------
tghw
I have one of these (and donated one). It's a pretty amazing ball.

There's another charity called Alive & Kicking[1] that makes more traditional
balls. The main advantages are that the balls are actually made in Africa,
giving people jobs, and the outside of the balls have HIV/AIDS awareness
messages on them.

[1] <http://www.aliveandkicking.org/>

~~~
ebiester
How does it feel as a ball? Can you give a short review?

~~~
tghw
The material feels like the Crocs foam, and I think it's a bit lighter than a
regulation ball. It also squishes down more easily; you can flatten it by
stepping on it, though it'll pop right back into shape. It also has different
bounce characteristics than a regulation ball, I assume due to its weight and
materials.

The biggest downside is that the one I got is slightly out of round, though
for anyone playing on a dirt "field", it wouldn't matter that much.

Overall, it's kind of incredible what they've been able to do with it. That
said, I wouldn't choose to use it over a regulation ball. But if it's all I
had, I'd be glad to play with it.

------
ghoul2
I am sorry, but I _have_ to ask. Why ship bulky non-de-flatable balls from
their manufacturing in China (presumably) or North America all the way to
Sudan or Rwanda? All this is being run with donations anyway, right? Why not
setup a ball-manufacturing unit somewhere in Africa? Something that uses the
bare minimum of automation that still results in a decent product? Employ a
few dozen/hundred locals, aid the economy, more or less solve the shipping
problem. Its probably not easy, given political situation, but I am sure
_some_ location can be found out there? Won't that help even more?

I understand that something like the iPhone or a Tesla S cannot be
manufactured out there. Supply chain issues, profitability concerns,
reliability of production, etc etc. But these balls are anyway meant for
Africa, they are meant to be given away, and they are supposed to be in a
charitable cause. The complexity of production is (presumably) much much lower
than manufacturing an iphone, there isn't much of a concern for profit, labour
would be as cheap in Africa as it is in China, if not cheaper, and periodic
disruptions in production won't affect the stock price of any large
corporation.

So why not?

~~~
lmm
The article says they're made in Taiwan. The manufacturing process for fancy
plastics can be quite complex, and the whole point of these balls is to be
consistently high quality, something that would be hard to achieve with
African production.

Not to mention that setting up your own factory is a massive amount of work
compared to simply coming up with a design and outsourcing production to an
existing supplier. Best to start with small steps for the first iteration.

------
bryanlarsen
The article has a link to where you can buy one, but it's not called out as
such. To make it easier for you to buy and/or donate to this awesome cause,
here it is: <http://www.oneworldfutbol.com/>

~~~
netcan
Fairly pricey. Even at bulk and without the built in donation they are $15-$20
in bulk.

~~~
stevesearer
I think that the durability of the ball and its ability to outlast previously
donated balls by many years makes the price acceptable. The article notes that
standard inflatable balls will become useless in short order, whereas this
ball might still be in use for years after it is donated.

------
sabret00the
Obligatory "it's football not soccer" comment from the Brit.

That aside, this is a fabulous thing. Anyone can play football in tight spaces
with a group and on their own. Being the biggest sport on the planet, it's a
marvellous thing that you can go literally anywhere and ask someone to play a
game and you pretty much all know the simple rules. I'll always get behind
things like this.

~~~
GFischer
It is a great idea, if it works like they say it does :) .

I've seen foam footballs before... (after google search):

[http://www.decathlon.es/balon-futbol-de-espuma-kipsta-
foam-i...](http://www.decathlon.es/balon-futbol-de-espuma-kipsta-foam-
id_6350059.html)

and they're much cheaper than the proposed one (you can get them for 1-2
dollars), but probably way less durable.

"A lion at the Johannesburg Zoo, who would go through six regular balls a day,
played with two balls. A German shepherd spent a year biting on a ball. In
every case, the balls withstood the abuse."

That does sound durable. As stated, U$ 40 is way too expensive for a ball, so
the only way it will work is if they continue giving them away as part of
relief efforts.

Unicef: "“compared to the $2.50 we pay for a regular football, the current
cost difference for the more durable solution is currently too high.”"

And the shipping problems are also a hindrance.

"because the balls cannot be deflated, they are more difficult to ship"

~~~
DanBC
Build a factory "over there" and provide employment opportunities. This helps
develop infrastructure in a sustainable useful way.

This also provides income replacement for the little children who are no
longer stitching traditional footballs.

([http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-27/rest-...](http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-27/rest-
of-world/34126401_1_child-labour-australian-football-needle))

[1] Sorry for the "over there" which is a lazy perhaps offensive way to refer
to the developing world.

~~~
fcc
<http://www.aliveandkicking.org/what-we-do/>

------
enraged_camel
I was born and raised in Turkey. When I was little, I and the other kids in my
neighborhood got together regularly and played soccer using crushed soda cans.
While it was fun, there were several disadvantages:

1\. They required one of us to purchase a soda (and chug it) 2\. The cans only
worked on asphalt and concrete. We couldn't play on grass. 3\. Since the
crushed cans had sharp edges, they ruined our shoes. 4\. Occasionally they
would take to the air and become dangerous flying projectiles.

That said, they were far more reliable than actual soccer balls, which we
could buy easily from sporting stores. They didn't go flat (they already were,
ha!) and didn't need to be inflated regularly.

------
ScottWhigham
"In May, Chevrolet, the General Motors division, agreed to buy 1.5 million One
World Futbols over the next three years and donate them to needy children. "

"At the end of September, the factory in Taiwan that produces the balls has
been working two shifts a day to meet its target of 45,000 balls a month."

Do we have a production problem? Maybe I missed it but it seems so. If
Chevrolet is buying 1.5m balls in three years, that's 500,000 balls per year.
If production is ideally reaching 45,000 balls per month, that's leaving very
few for defects and other buyers.

The other thing I thought of is that, if the ball is virtually indestructible,
at some point there are enough balls deployed/in-place and we can stop
production all together, right? At 500,000+ balls per year, how many years
will it take before everyone who wants one has one? I know there are a lot of
poor areas but surely there's a number at which point critical mass has been
reached.

~~~
Avshalom
well at 6 billion people on the planet and growing they might just run out of
an market in a few thousand years.

~~~
ScottWhigham
??? The market is poor countries/people who cannot afford soccer balls. That's
hardly 6 billion.

------
robotmay
I laughed out loud on first reading this sentence (it could use an extra
capital letter): "A German shepherd spent a year biting on a ball. In every
case, the balls withstood the abuse."

Man that must have been one bored shepherd.

------
GiraffeNecktie
I'm not knocking this idea, but it would be so much better if the balls could
be manufactured in Africa using locally sourced materials rather than paying a
factory in Taiwan to make them and ship them around the globe.

------
rgo
TL;DR: entrepreneur invents always-inflated, indestructible ball made of
Crocs' foam, finds an investor (Sting) who sees a business opportunity selling
to charities who cater to third world children. Now they're making ~$1M/month
from customers such as GM and Unicef.

~~~
jadc
It is true that this not a non-profit organization. It is a B corporation.
According to Wikipedia: "A benefit corporation is a class of corporation
required by law to create general benefit for society as well as for
shareholders. Benefit corporations must create a material positive impact on
society, and consider how their decisions affect their employees, community,
and the environment. Moreover, they must publicly report on their social and
environmental performances using established third-party standards."

How common are these B corps? Any other notable examples?

------
sp332
Why is GM spending millions of dollars on soccer balls? Didn't they go
bankrupt recently?

~~~
Someone
Marketing? Also, it is not as if 'millions' is a lot of money for them. They
will spend half a billion or so sponsoring a football club
([http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/07/30/uk-gm-manu-
idUKBRE8...](http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/07/30/uk-gm-manu-
idUKBRE86T13220120730))

------
johnobrien1010
I wonder if I'm the only one who wished someone would start a company to sell
soccers balls at a low price point to poor people instead of donating them, as
it seems a better solution then making uber expensive balls that are then sold
on a buy one/donate one basis (looks like it's about $40
<http://www.oneworldfutbol.com/shop/one-world-futbol/>)?

Is that crazy?

------
rickmb
The great thing about soccer is that even having an actual soccer ball is not
a necessity. Empty cans, ragged tennis balls, anything will do. This used to
be perfectly fine in the first world country I grew up in, so although this is
a great product, it doubt it will make as much of a difference as the author
suggest. Kids will play soccer and enjoy it no matter what.

~~~
Millennium
The point is not so much to get kids playing soccer: they do that on their
own. The point is safety: if the ball holds up, they won't resort to making
their own from unsafe materials.

------
mistercow
>But “compared to the $2.50 we pay for a regular football, the current cost
difference for the more durable solution is currently too high.”

My brain hurts. If a ball that costs $20 and lasts 30 years is too expensive,
then a ball that costs $2.50 and lasts a day is also too expensive. This is
not a difficult math problem.

~~~
gus_massa
One possible problem is that they say (estimate) that the new model last 30
years. (Let's wait until 2040 and see.) It's very difficult to estimate how
many years it will last with the real use.

* What happens when they get wet? Does it get a lot of mold?

* What happens during a flood?

* How fast the surface wears away?

* What happens when a dog bites it?

* Does the dirt accumulate inside and make the ball heavier?

It's looks like an interesting idea, but the 30 years claim is a little
optimistic.

~~~
mistercow
Even so, it only has to last 8 days to break even.

------
arturglier
Hats off to you mr. Jahnigen and hats of to you mr. Sting for not just being
good with music, but for being Good in general :) It's absolutely one of the
most beautiful ideas I've ever heard. So simple, so powerful. Saw the Joy and
harvest the Good.

------
asnyder
No idea why this wasn't mentioned, but <http://soccket.org/> (a soccer ball
that's also a generator) seems like it would be significantly more useful,
while also satisfying the same fun purposes.

~~~
vacri
The core reasoning behind the foam ball was that inflatable balls don't even
last a day.

------
masterponomo
Anyone else thinking such a ball would make an ideal "case" for a Raspberry
Pi, especially once they add wi-fi to the R-Pi? Here's a ball, kids...BTW,
it's a computer too. A kickable, waterproof, indestructible computer.

------
kleiba
_"Then he happened to be having breakfast with Sting, a friend from his days
in the music business."_

Ahhh... that was easy.

------
jdhzzz
How long before folks complain that the indestructible ball is, well,
indestructible?

------
isabre
Amazing story. Love the game and love the idea!

------
devin
Maybe this guy could pivot and invent a soccer ball that feeds starving
people.

~~~
phy6
Meat balls!

------
antidoh
Minimum viable help.

------
Evbn
Years ago I saw a video where kids made a ball by blowing up a condom and
covering it with some srap fabric.

~~~
anothermachine
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57ndLGhffwE>

------
phy6
Don't we have more pressing matters to devote brain power to?

~~~
jpxxx
Exactly! What a risible waste of time and effort.

Now: take your pet, snap its neck, and throw it in the trash. Then make a list
of your family members and sort them by value. Get the least essential ones
out of your life, by hook or by crook. Finally, start removing your least
essential fingers. You can type with just two! Focus, focus, focus. This world
is made for Big Thinkers, Important Ideas, and Stuff That Matters. Like you,
your worthless values, and your blithering cynicism! It's all about YOU!

