Every aspect of football has been subject to technical innovation, as a new exhibition DesignMuseum demonstrates
is, at least in part, about problem-solving. At White Hart Lane, a football stadium in north London which dated back to 1899, Tottenham Hotspur had three problems. Two were practical: the pitch was small and the seating capacity diminutive compared with the team’s Premier League rivals. The third was related, but emotional. The club often finished in the top ten and yearned to be considered among the greats of English football.
Football has always been shaped by such creative thinking, argues Eleanor Watson, curator of “Designing the Beautiful Game”. The exhibition, currently showing at the Design Museum in London, examines how designers and architects have responded to “a specific need within football”.
As the design of balls evolved, adopting lighter synthetic materials, fewer panels, different colours and grooves, so too did the design of boots, which became less about minimising the player’s discomfort and more about affording them flexibility and control. Designers including Adolf and Rudolf Dassler drew on lower-cut styles used in Europe and South America—areas which enjoyed warmer weather and drier pitches, and where players excelled at dribbling and fancy footwork.
Kits evolved for pragmatic reasons, too. In the 19th century players might wear a particular colour to match their teammates, stitching on a crest, but they were responsible for their own outfits. As interest and money in football increased, so kits changed: they became standardised, with numbers and names, so that fans, commentators and journalists could identify the athletes more easily.
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