Football support

A support device (10) for a football, particularly a rugby football (B), comprises a flexible bag (12) having a flat base (18) with sides (12a) formed from tapered sections of a woven nylon material (for example) defining a generally ogival shape. The bag (12) is filled with a malleable material, such as loose granular material, which does not occupy the whole of the maximum volume of the bag, such that a ball (B) may be placed on the bag which can be deformed and shaped to form a pocket (16) which serves to hold the ball in a chosen attitude for place kicking.

This invention relates to a support for a football for use during playing 
of the game or for display purposes. This invention also relates to 
apparatus for use in playing a game of football and to the game when 
played in combination with the apparatus. 
In a game of football, particularly rugby football, where the ball is 
non-spherical and typically an ellipsoid, the ball does not lend itself to 
being balanced at a chosen angle or stood on or about an end for place 
kicking. In order to position a ball for place kicking, a player will 
either create a shallow recess in the playing field in order to receive an 
end of a ball, thereby to support the ball in a desired attitude until it 
is kicked or, alternatively and to the same end, a player may create a 
small mound of soil on which the ball can seated at a desired attitude in 
readiness for kicking. 
More recently, rigid support devices made from a plastics material have 
been utilised. The former stated techniques of support are advantageous in 
that they allow a player to create the specific shape of support required 
in terms of desired height and ball attitude for the trajectory envisaged 
but are time consuming to create and inconsistent in the making due, for 
example, to soil characteristics or condition. The support devices do give 
the advantage of the provision of a consistent support device but are 
inflexible in the way in which the ball can be seated whereby adjustment 
of the attitude of the ball by the player is limited and possibly 
unstable. 
In one aspect this invention provides a support for a football which is to 
be kicked from a stationary position on a playing surface, which support 
comprises a filler material contained within an outer skin and in 
combination forming a deformable, that is a malleable and/or pliable 
structure adapted to support said football at a desired and adjustable 
attitude above the playing surface. 
According to a preferred feature of this invention said filler material may 
be a coherent single mass of a malleable substance, such as a clay-like 
material or viscous solid or liquid. 
According to another preferred feature of this invention the said filler 
material may be particulate material such as a powder or a granular 
substance. Preferably the granular material used is sand. 
According to a further preferred feature of this invention, the outer skin 
may comprise a bag preferably with a re-closable aperture. Preferably the 
outer skin is formed from a woven nylon material or other water and tear 
resistant material. 
According to a still further feature of this invention, said support is 
generally -conical or ogival in form and having a planar base surface. 
This invention thus provides, broadly, a pliable and/or malleable ball 
support which can be shaped so as to provide an adjustable support for use 
in place kicking a rugby football or the like.

Referring firstly to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, a ball support device 
10 comprises a bag 12 which is generally, but not strictly, of ogival or 
frusto-conical form and which forms an outer skin 14 containing a 
deformable filler material M such as a granular material, preferably sand. 
The bag 12 may contain a variety of materials which need not necessarily 
be granular. For example, some form of malleable mass in the nature of 
clay, a viscous liquid or solid such as a silicone gel or even water will 
suffice provided it can at least temporarily hold the form of the bag 12 
into which it is shaped so as to provide a relatively stable but 
nevertheless adjustable support for a rugby football B or the like, during 
placement on the support for kicking. Of course, the device is equally 
suitable for use with American or Australian rules footballs. 
It will be understood that a number of combinations of the bag material 12 
and filler material M arc whilst still achieving the desired purpose. For 
example the bag 12 could be of a relatively stiff self-supporting fabric 
containing an easily deformable material 12, water as example, or the bag 
12 could be of a thinner more pliable material, such as a plastic film, 
containing less easily deformable material in the nature of soft clay as 
example. Within the ambit of this invention suitable combinations can 
easily be deduced by those skilled in the art. It has, however, been 
found, quite surprisingly, that a combination of a woven nylon fabric for 
the bag 12 and common sand for the filler material M offers excellent 
results. 
The support device should be such that, and in accordance with this 
invention, the ball can be orientated to the required attitude and then 
pressed into the support to deform the upper part into compliance with the 
ball curvature to retain the attitude of the ball, whilst still allowing 
fine adjustment, all without undue pressure force being required. 
A modification provides lot the support to be easily deformable in one 
physical state of the filler M and less easily or non-deformable in a 
second physical state. The support can then be "personalised" by a player 
and fixed in a chosen form and in the second state. This can be achieve by 
settable filler material or using heat to achieve the change in deformable 
state. 
The outer bag or skin may be made from any material which is flexible 
enough to allow the interior filling material to emulate the physical 
consistency of wet sand, and the interior filler material may be of any 
material that will mould or form itself to the shape of an object placed 
upon it. 
In order to fulfil the requirements of the support, best results are 
obtained if the bag is only partially filled, in relation to the maximum 
expanded volume, with the fill substance so that "free" material of the 
bag at the top end of the device assists in provided a suitable recess or 
shallow pocket 16 in which the cooperating curved surface of a ball is 
received. 
The bag in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a flat base panel 18 
which is formed with a reclosable opening 20, a continuous side wall 22 
formed with a closing seam 24 and a top panel 26. The material from which 
these panels are formed can be a woven nylon material but in any event 
does need to be flexible. The top and bottom panels are stitched to the 
side wall panel. The bag contains a sand filler material which occupies 
about two-thirds or thereabouts of the total expaned volume of the bag. In 
one form the base panel 18 is 12 cm. in diameter, the top panel 26 is 9 
cm. in diameter and the overall full expanded height of the bag is 9 cm. 
If desired the top wall or bottom panel of the bag is provided with a 
non-slip surface to enhance the grip between the bag and the ground and/or 
the bag and a ball B. Formations may be included on the base 18 to 
facilitate grip. 
A second embodiment of support according to this invention is shown in 
FIGS. 3 to 5 of the accompanying drawings and generally the way in which 
the support is used and the materials for the bag 12 and filler M are 
similar. In this construction, as shown, the support comprises the bag 12 
which is constructed to have a generally ogival form and made from six 
separate sections of material 12a. The sections are stitched together, or 
otherwise joined, along seams 12c and furthermore joined to a generally 
circular base 18. The seams 12c are turned inwardly before stitching and 
part of the length 12d of one of the seams 12c is left unstitched during 
assembly of the bag, this then enabling the filler material to be inserted 
after which the part 12d is stitched or otherwise closed-off conveniently 
externally. This construction has advantages in that an additional seam, 
such as 20 in FIG. 1, need not be provided and the quantity of filler 
material can be easily varied at any stage. In a modification the part 12d 
is a reclosable seam whereby an individual can adjust the amount of filler 
according to his particular preferences. An additional advantage of this 
construction is that it enables the support to be transported without the 
filler material which can then be introduced as required, this avoiding 
heavy transportation costs. 
FIG. 5 shows the second embodiment of support in use with a rugby ball B 
illustrated in outline, the drawings showing the way in which the upper 
parts of the support are deformed to form pocket 16 by the contacting 
surfaces of the ball which can then be retained in a selected attitude. 
FIG. 6 of the accompanying drawings shows an embodiment which is generally 
similar to that disclosed in FIGS. 3 to 5 except that the height of the 
support is less and in addition the juncture between the base 18 and the 
side panels 12a is augmented by means of a circular section plastic piping 
material which adds to the strength of the structure. This plastic piping 
is also semi-rigid and serves to maintain a flatter base and a circular 
plan form therefor. 
Although this invention is primarily intended to support a football for the 
purposes of kicking, it will be apparent that the device is also useful 
for displaying footballs, for example at a point of sale or an exhibition, 
this being difficult to achieve without using specialised support stands 
to prevent rolling motion of the balls on display. This invention also 
embraces the combination of a football with the support device. 
This invention further provides an apparatus for use in playing a game of 
the kind wherein a ball is to placed on a point in a playing area in a 
chosen attitude and thereafter projected through the air from said point 
by the action of a player's foot towards a chosen target, which game 
includes the use of an apparatus comprising the ball support as 
hereinbefore described and on which the ball is seated prior to being 
impacted by the player's foot.