Les Grosses Têtes: AH OUAIS ? - Pourquoi le ballon de rugby est-il ovale ?

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Hello, it's Laurent Rucier.

You know that Florian Gazan's friend has his own podcast.

Ah, yes! Thanks to this podcast, you will soon have incredible anecdotes to share.

Hello, it's Florian Gazan.

In a minute, you will know why rugby, basketball and volleyball.

Ah, yes?

Yes, because let's read you right away.

At the birth of rugby, the ball was round.

And for that reason, it was a football ball.

In fact, it was during a football game in 1823,

that the ball would be deflated.

The young William Wabellis, 14 years old,

would have taken it with his hands before going to the court in the reverse goal.

And he would have tried so hard against him this ball, which would have become oval.

Nice story, but without a doubt totally false.

Ah, yes!

Yes, because at the beginning, football had no rules established.

We played a little bit as we wanted, with the feet,

but also sometimes with the hands, or with both.

With both.

That's right, when we decided to code it,

there was a division between football and rugby,

which we called, at the time, rugby football.

But in both cases, the ball was still round.

Finally round, it's a big word.

The football balls, in the late 19th century,

were a fresh port vessel that was inflated and covered with four leather panels.

As a result, according to the size and shape of the vessel,

the ball was more or less round and more or less the same size.

Ah, yes?

This is where a coordinate of the city of rugby intervenes.

His name was William Gilbert.

He had the idea to adapt a little the round ball to the practice of this new game.

He chose this oval form,

because it's easier to catch up with than a round ball,

to play against each other to run.

It's also easier to get up in the air by tapping the feet during transformations.

And finally, as it rolls less,

it comes out less often from the field.

If the port vessel was replaced by a rubber pocket,

leather by synthetic,

its shape is a little longer,

the rugby ball today is the same as Gilbert made 200 years ago.

By the way, his brand, Gilbert, still exists,

and it's with a ball of this brand that we play the World Cup of Rugby in France.

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Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.