Editing Football (ball) (section)

==Australian rules football==
[[File:Sherrin footy.jpg|thumb|right|An [[Australian rules football]] by [[Sherrin]]]]
The football used in [[Australian rules football|Australian football]] is similar to a rugby ball but generally slightly smaller and more rounded at the ends, but more elongated in overall appearance, being longer by comparison with its width than a rugby ball. A regulation football is {{convert|720|-|730|mm|in}} in circumference, and {{convert|545|-|555|mm|in|abbr=on}} transverse circumference, and inflated to a pressure of {{convert|62|-|76|kPa|psi|abbr=on}}. In the [[Australian Football League|AFL]], the balls are red for day matches and yellow for night matches.

The first games of Australian football were played with a round ball, because balls of that shape were more readily available. In 1860, Australian football pioneer [[Tom Wills]] argued that the oval rugby ball travelled further in the air and made for a more exciting game.<ref>[[Martin Flanagan (journalist)|Flanagan, Martin]]. [http://australianfootball.com/articles/view/Why%2BTom%2BWills%2Bis%2Ban%2BAustralian%2Blegend%2Blike%2BNed%2BKelly/133 "Why Tom Wills is an Australian legend like Ned Kelly"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002040245/https://australianfootball.com/articles/view/Why+Tom+Wills+is+an+Australian+legend+like+Ned+Kelly/133 |date=2 October 2018 }}, Australian Football. Retrieved 7 November 2013.</ref> It became customary in Australian football by the 1870s.

The Australian football ball was invented by T. W. Sherrin in 1880, after he was given a misshapen rugby ball to fix. Sherrin designed the ball with indented rather than pointy ends to give the ball a better bounce.

Australian football ball brands include [[Burley-Sekem|Burley]], Ross Faulkner, and [[Sherrin]] (the brand used by the [[Australian Football League]]).