The Jabulani, Curse or Excuse?

It seems that every time a major football tournament comes around there are various stories about the football being used, one which are normally of a negative aspect. This year is no exception and the ball being used in the World Cup this year is called the Jabulani which means “rejoice” or “bring joy and happiness” in Zulu. Which is what the game of football does to many all across the world making the World Cup one of the greatest shows on earth.

So I thought I would take the opportunity to give it a go myself and see what I think. I teamed up with fellow TGB member Alvin Pickering today to use it in a training session and what’s what. We used the ball in various situations such as goal kicks, general shooting and crossing. We had a selection of Nike and Mitre footballs to compare them to the Jabulani.

Goal Kicks

The Jabulani was a great ball to strike, we didn’t have to put much effort into it to get good distance or power on to it. Alvin took some great goal kicks which had it all, accuracy, power, height and distance. I found it a bit difficult to use the right kicking technique with it as I found it a bit hard to get used to, even if you scuffed it felt like a clean strike so I found it to give you an illusion of ‘hitting it sweet’ every time. We both then moved onto taking goal kicks with the Mitre Ultimatch ball which I preferred because I could tell when I was hitting it right and when I wasn’t but as you can imagine it is a heavier ball so you do have to put more power into the kick.

On the whole Alvin and I agreed that the Jabulani is an easy ball to strike and feels lovely when you get it right. It is almost effortless to put power into the Jabulani but having said that I would rather kick with the Mitre as I feel it offers more feel on the foot; you can feel when you are hitting it right.

General Shooting

Where do I start with this one? The ball is a bit of a nightmare for us ‘keepers as I found 2 big challenges with it.

1)    The ball is very easy to get power out of so as a goalkeeper you will not see the ball until you are picking it out of the net

2)    Even if you do keep track of the ball and follow it all the way it can move slightly at the last minute. Now slightly may not seem like much but when you going for that safe catch and the ball just happens to move off course a few cm you will yourself fumbling it to the nearest goal poacher.

The ball is lovely to strike as a player but for the goalkeeper it is problem to deal which doesn’t surprise me too much as everyone other than a goalkeeper wants to see as many goals in a match as possible.

Crossing

There is not much I can add to this as all the points above are applicable to the crossing as well but I think the biggest problem with the ball on crosses is that is really hangs in the air. There will be a cross that will come in and you’ll go for it thinking that you have timed it right and all of a sudden your underneath it simply waving it goodbye. I feel you must have to be really confident on high balls not to have the temptation of just throwing a fist to it and hoping for the best.

Overall Verdict

I can see why this ball has come under a lot criticism as it is difficult to the right result out of it, outfielders are over hitting passes because they are putting too much power through the ball, good free kicks have been a rare treat and the goalkeeping has been made much harder.

It is a lovely ball to strike but for a goalkeeper I feel this is a curse, one of which is soo strong that I am tempted to call it anti football. Mind you some of the free kicks and passing in the World Cup has been a bit poor aswell so maybe we can say it is a bit of a nightmare to outfielders. My advice to Adidas would be to make it slightly heavier and then I reckon they could have a great ball on their hands but I’m afraid it is too light for everyone, even the pros….

Look out for my video later in the weekend I have sent it into Martin which will this weekend be live on greatsave.tv.