Football related gifts for boys 0

New Product - Vintage Leather Personalised Rugby Balls

Finding a Football gift for the boy in your life can be tricky, especially if he's the type of kid who already owns everything! Birthdays happen just once a year and it can be really difficult to find a thoughtful and unique gift, one that a child would love and just as importantly use. 

This year, how about something a little bit different. Our personalised footballs are available in a range of sizes and colours and even come matched to some of the bigger professional teams. We can put your boy's name, nickname, date of birth or a message onto the football which has been custom made for him. A personalised football will stand out from the rest and they will take more care of it when using it outside. Its a ball to be proud off and they will be the envy of their mates. It may be the case that the personalised football is kept indoors as the pride of place in their football-themed bedroom. We offer a next day delivery service when you've forgotten your nephews' birthday and have run out of time to get an amazing gift anywhere else! Our standard shipping is less than a week in any case so either way, you're sure of a speedy delivery. We ship worldwide and have made over half a million footballs so you can be sure the football you receive is of excellent quality

Check out our online store and see if we can supply you with the most amazing personalised gift for a football crazy boy! We have size 1 skill footballs which are the perfect gift for smaller kids, Size 3's and full Size 5 standard size footballs. We have around 12 off the shelf designs and this is growing by the month. If you need any help then give one of the friendly team a shout!

New Product - Vintage Leather Personalised Rugby Balls 0

New Product Range - Vintage Leather Personalised Rugby Balls

New to our range is the hand sewn 100% cowhide luxury leather vintage ball! Starting in February 2018 with the Rugby variant this is a classy ball that we can personalise with up to 40 characters. A personalised designer vintage inspired leather lace-up rugby ball is the most amazing gift for the Rugby fan in your life. 

This classic design will bring out the memories of yesteryear. The Heritage Leather Rugby Ball is beautiful to look and hand constructed of fine cowhide leather.

We will be adding to the vintage ball range over the coming months. Soccer balls, Cricket balls and Boxing gloves will all be added and we will be offering a personalisation service on all these lines. 

Please note ball will be supplied inflated in plain packing. The personalised vintage ball is a super gift for weddings, birthdays and events such as presentation evenings at rugby clubs. We personalise in gold in a classic font for individual balls and emboss or deboss for branded balls (perfect for logos!). We offer Free delivery on all personalised balls and typically deliver within a week. Check out the range in our online store and give us a shout if you have any questions!

Football Gifts for a seven year old 0

Football Gifts for a seven year old

We have done lots of research into what 7-year-olds like and we have explored great gifts to help them run around and have fun. You could opt for construction toys, exploring gifts, science kits, weaponry or even some magic sets! However at the end of the day what seven-year-old old boy or girl can resist a brand spanking new football personalised with their name! Perfect for getting mum and dad out and about over the park, personalised footie balls mean the whole family can join in the fun and the game can be fun or compliment training for those really into the sport. Personalised footballs can make an amazing birthday or Christmas presents and are really popular with seven-year-old boys and girls. We print balls offer personalised footballs in all sizes for you 7-year-old football crazy kid!

Kids Football Birthday Game Ideas 0

Kids Football Birthday Game Ideas

If your child lives for the beautiful game they're going to love a football-themed party. All you need to do is pack everything a soccer fan might probably need into one truly impressive kid's soccer party… football, football and much more football

After you've sourced the party decor, the cake, the personalised footballs from our online store and some football themed tunes are ready to blast over the stereo you're going to need some games. Here are a few ideas to get you going!

WARM UP - To warm up, start with some skills. Start off with some simple dribbling that tests the children’s footballing skills in a fun competitive way. You can use ladders, dribble cones, reaction hoops, hurdles or anything else that creates a diversion and requries skill to dribble a ball around. Mini Prizes for the best dribbler get the kids ready for the next round.

FUNNY FOOTBALL - Next, it’s on to our personal favourite, super size football! - This is often soccer at its funniest! the youngsters play fun football matches with a large inflatable football! Make it even crazier by having no goalkeepers and big goals. You can expect fantastic defensive saves, huge headers, knee knocks, chest downs and blast with those football feet. All the while the soft inflatable ball will bounce around going nowhere like where they want it to go.

SCORE LIKE NEYMAR! - So you think that you've got what it takes to be a world-class striker - Well it’s time to place your goal scoring skills to the test in a knockout penalty or free kick competition. Simply score a goal to progress to the next round. Sounds straightforward, right? Mix it up by adding a keeper, shooting from further, using your weak foot or closing your eyes. Soon it will be down to the final two to battle out the free kick challenge

FRANTIC FUN - The excitement continues with the super fast paced Frantic Football! This funny team game isn’t referred to as ‘Frantic’ Football for nothing! The youngsters listen out for their number, poised on the sidelines. As soon as it's called they race onto the pitch and try to score. Keep adding numbers with every round and before you know you won't know whats going on, they'll be kids and balls everywhere trying to score for their numbered team

KEEPY UPPY - it's then on to a fast game of Keepy Uppy. Our soccering gladiators alternate to step into the Keepy Uppy arena ready to do battle by keeping the football from touching the ground. Head, feet, knees, chest and even shoulders can be used to keep the ball from falling to the floor or out of the Keepy Uppy arena. The best Keepy Uppy athlete wins!

THRILLING TOURNAMENT - All footballing legends need a chance to refuel so after they've topped up with party food its time for the tournament.…Split the kids up into even numbered teams and create a mini league full of short fast games. Every team then plays three matches, one against each other trying to attain many points as possible. The two teams with the highest of points then prepare to play one another in the nail-biting final! The winner takes all!

Kid's Football Gift Ideas 0

Amazing Kid's Football Gift Ideas

Shopping for children in the family can be a fun way to spend the afternoon or a nightmare! It all depends on how well you know the kid. If you don’t know them all that well, you may be a bit stumped. You can pick up a gift card, but that seems a bit thoughtless and they may not enjoy it as much as children that get an actual present. Instead, pick up one of these great gifts for boys that every boy is guaranteed to love.

Tickets to a game

Every boy seems to love going to football games, so this gift is always a great idea. Tickets to a game are not a cliché gift that they will roll their eyes at, and if the two of you go together it will give you some time to get to know them a little better. Ask their parents what their favourite sport is, and you are good to go.

Building Kits

Building kits are available for everything. Pick them up a beginner model car or aeroplane kit to give them something to do other than just sit in front of the television. Many of these come in beginner versions that involve simply snapping pieces together. Even if your nephew has shown no previous interest in building model cars, you may inspire a new hobby that will last well into adulthood.

Personalised Footballs

Personalized balls are a great gift, and they can be used as decoration or to play with, guaranteeing that your child will get some use out of it, one way or another. You will not have to worry that they will simply toss your gift into the back of the closet or give it to one of their friends. Customize a football with their favourite team, or simply use their favourite colours and their name. Either way, they’re sure to love it and look forward to your next present.

A Day Trip

Spending time with a child is something that can never be replaced. While presents are important, making memories that will last a lifetime is something that cannot be compared. If going out is not an option, spend the day teaching them how to throw their personalized football or build a model car together. Simply enjoying movie night together is a great present for children that have busy parents. 

If you’re struggling to decide on that final birthday present for your nephew that you only see twice a year, one of these kids gift ideas is guaranteed to win him over and bring a smile to his adorable face. He’ll jump up and down with excitement at tickets to see his favourite sports star in action, spend hours playing with a personalised football, or develop a new hobby. Whichever kids gift ideas or idea you choose; you can’t go wrong.

How are Footballs made? 0

How are Soccer Balls & Footballs made?

Here at We Print Balls we design and manufacture footballs. We, therefore, thought it would be cool to share an insight into just how footballs (including ours) are made!  

Ball Construction

There are four main components of a football. These are as follows:

–      The cover

–      The Stitching

–      The lining

–      The bladder

Understanding the four main components and the variables of each may help you in choosing the best build of football for your requirements.

Covers

The surface or the outer of a football is made up of synthetic leather and not full grain leather (As used in years gone by). Leather has a tendency to soak up water causing the football to become very heavy. Synthetic leathers are typically made from two materials – PU (polyurethane)
and PVC (polyvinyl chloride). 
There are many variations of synthetic leather used in the construction of football balls. They range from AI-2000, Japanese Teijin Cordley, Microfiber, English Porvair, Korean Ducksung, Leatherette from Pakistan, Synthetic Leather, and PVC (polyvinyl chloride). The best quality footballs used in matches by semi-pro and by professionals are produced using materials such as AI-2000, Cordley, Ducksung, Microfiber or other types of PU synthetic leather. Promotional soccer balls or cheaper practice balls are usually constructed with Polyvinyl Chloride(PVC) or rubber (moulded or stitched) or a combination of both PVC and PU covers. Your typical Nike football which retails around the £20 mark will be a TPU cover and a cheaper Sondico football that you would pick up in sports direct for around the £4 mark will be a PVC made ball. Our personalised footballs here at We Print Balls are made from PU and are PVC free. This is the part of the ball that is printed upon and that the end user will see with all the graphics printed upon.

Panels

The number of panels – the different segments that make up the outside cover of a football, varies for each type of football design. A 32-panel ball is the most common and is the style used in most professional matches. The soccer ball is essentially a Buckminster Ball consisting of 20 hexagonal (six-sided) and 12 pentagonal (five-sided) surfaces.  This is because the panels bulge due to the pressure of the air inside the football when inflated. When the panels are sewn together and inflated the panels make a near perfect sphere. Footballs can also be made of 18 and 26-panel constructions. Promotional balls may be made of 30 or 28 panels to incorporate larger panels on opposite sides of the ball. This is done to allow a greater print area when producing logo and branded footballs. The fewer amounts of panels generally mean's the ball can be curved more when kicked because of less stability to the cover.

The Panels of a football can be stitched, glued or thermally moulded together. What are the differences?

•  Stitched

The highest quality balls are stitched with a polyester or similar material thread. 5-ply twisted polyester cord or nylon-waxed cord will be the material of choice when sewing together a football ball. Hand stitched footballs have tighter and stronger seams. High-end balls are hand-sewn, whilst most low and mid-priced balls are machine-stitched. The stitching is completed by turning the ball completely inside out and individually sewing the panels together by hand. This is done so none of the stitches shows on the outside. The nylon waxed twine is also used to prevent water intake. Tight, strong hand completed stitches also prevent water from penetrating the inner of the ball. Machine sewn balls are normally produced in China with hand-stitched balls being produced in Pakistan or India. All of our footballs at We Print Balls are hand sewn at our factory in Pakistan. We do not produce any form of machine-stitched balls, which are mass-produced in China. A hand-sewn ball will take a stitcher around 3 hours to complete. So can you imagine how many stitchers are busy sewing footballs when we approach our peek retail times such as Christmas when over 2000 balls can be made a week!

•  Glued

Lower-end, cheap PVC practice balls generally have the panels glued together onto the lining. These types of footballs offer a harder feel and are by far much less expensive than hand or machine stitched balls. Thermally Molded footballs are the third alternative. The 2010 World Cup football, the Jubalani produced by Adidas have panels that are thermally moulded together.

Linings

The thickness of material plays a huge part in the quality and the usability of hand-sewn footballs. Multiple layers of lining are placed between the cover and the internal bladder. These layers are manufactured with polyester and cotton. The materials are laminated together to give the ball strength, structure and bounce. This key part of the manufacturing process will help the ball retain consistent bounce. The top quality balls including our personalised footballs have four layers of lining. We would also refer to these as 4-ply footballs. Cheaper promotional or practice balls are often constructed with fewer layers of lining. Promo footballs are made of 2 layers of lining and training balls 3-4 layers. 3 ply and 2 ply would be fine for small children but an adult boot kicking with force a football made of 2 layers would test the material to breaking point. The lining helps the ball retain its shape and bounce over the life of the ball and where price allows, we would always recommend a 4ply football. Some football balls include a foam-padded layer for added cushioning and ball control.

Bladders

The internal bladder of a football ball is what holds the air. This is the part that looks like a balloon! Bladders are usually made of latex or butyl. Butyl bladders retain the air for much longer periods of time than their latex counterparts. Latex bladders, however, tend to provide better surface tension. Butyl bladders do offer the better combination of contact quality and air retention. Butyl bladders are the bladders of choice for higher quality footballs with latex providing the inners for cheaper promotional and training balls. Higher end footballs also use butyl valves for air retention, with top-drawer balls using a silicone-treated valve for superior performance.  Silicone treated valves are often used on footballs for smooth insertion of the metal inflating needle and further protection from loss of air. When you first purchase or receive a football a good idea is to place a few drops of silicone oil in the valve. This process will provide easier needle insertion and better air retention and prevent any damage to the bladder. Rubber latex bladders offer the softest feel and response but do not provide great best air retention. Micropores in the material slowly let the air escape from within. Footballs with latex bladders need to be re-inflated (at least once a week) much more often than footballs with butyl bladders, which stay fully inflated for weeks at a time.

How Most Hand Stitched footballs are put together

The first stage of production is to roll out the material to be used for the outing cover of the ball. These are typically giant sheets in the chosen base colour. The casing is usually made from several layers of synthetic foam-filled leaves (panels), which are laminated together to produce the tough, smooth exterior. The panels are cut into the exact amount of pentagons and hexagons needed to make one ball. These panels are pre-printed with any brand names and graphics before being cut into the required shapes. All logos, print and colour designs would be printed onto the material at this point in the process. This is when we here at We Print Balls print the requested name for a personalised football or the logo for a branded ball onto the material. Printing is typically completed by hand silk-screening onto the cover material. This method of printing can be done by hand or machine. A coating may be applied for extra protection. The number of individual panels required are then cut out, and holes are pre-punched in preparation for stitching. Once stitched together your ball is checked for quality, cleaned of all residue and packed ready for shipment to its destination country. All in all a lot of work goes into producing a single football.