In 2023 I spent nearly six months in Mfuwe, a semi-rural town in Zambia, working as an assistant coach for Malambo United Football Club. I brought footballs, cones and bibs from the UK and got straight to work. I loved it. But within weeks, I was down to only two balls. The rest had been punctured by thorny acacia trees behind the goalposts, quickly ending any shooting drills. The two footballs that remained soon became so battered by the rough ground that the stitching started to give way.

So I went looking for replacements. Should be easy, right? Surely in a football-mad country, where every child’s dream is to play football all day, there’d be a football is every market, shop or even gas station? Absolutely not. I looked and looked but found nothing. I noticed young children only ever played with plastic bags wrapped in string. I learned the local under-13 team hadn't been training for a month because they didn’t have a ball. Whenever I opened the boot of my car, children would flood over within seconds, begging for a football. The whole community was desperate to play, but they couldn’t.

The frustration within me built. Growing up, football was always available to me: it was my escape, the time I could relax, forget everything, and build friendships. It taught me so much about teamwork, and I learned far more socially from football than all my years in a classroom. Seeing kids without that basic opportunity made me realise how fundamental a single ball can be — and I began looking for solutions to this problem.

I started chatting to local members of the community. I asked them where they get footballs from. How long do they typically last? How much do they cost? What balls are the best? I got some interesting answers. Balls, when not sourced by donations, were bought in Chipata (a "local" town over 3 hours drive away). But they were expensive – the equivalent of £30. In fact very expensive for a football that could not be guaranteed to last more than a week, and for a community where most are living well under the poverty line. Everyone I asked told me that footballs just don’t last – they might survive a week, they have a chance at a month, but beyond that you are riding your luck.  

After losing another ball the following week to thorns and becoming increasingly frustrated, I ordered balls from the UK. I chose to trial two rubber balls that claimed to be long-lasting and good for rough surfaces. Within 3 days one had burst - a thorn straight through the seam.

 I arrived back in the UK after three months none the wiser, so I got to work.  What about a rubber solution – could the football panels be made thicker, stronger, longer lasting? But for rubber to work there will always have to be a seam, and seams eventually wear through if not pierced by a thorn first. My breakthrough came from finding an EVA foam moulded ball: unpoppable because it didn’t require an air-tight bladder, and a foam that takes months if not years to wear though. Why have these balls not made it to Zambia?

Well, despite them being crazily expensive (£60!), I took one to Zambia a few months later. Only then did a local coach spot it, approach me, and tell me he had seen them before. He explained that the community had been given some a few years ago and they had lasted over a year, with daily use and huge enjoyment before eventually wearing through. So, there is a solution.

However, $75 is too expensive for Zambia, so I began searching for a more affordable way to make them.  After researching the materials and the production process, I reached out to factories around the world that specialise in these foam-moulded products. Eventually, a company in China came back and claimed they had made a similar ball before. After months of emails that consisted of language barriers, confusion, drawings, and sales pitches, I got them to send me a prototype of their product. 

It was much better than expected. For a production cost of only £4, I knew perfection was not likely. After conducting some basic tests, I found that while the football performed reasonably well, it had a slightly uneven weight distribution, a non-optimal foam density, and several small design issues, which meant that it could not be guaranteed to last. It was a step in the right direction – these foam products can be affordable with the right design.

So put simply, EVA foam is the best solution. However, a redesign is required to ensure expense is not a barrier. To progress this endeavour, I will need support. Hence this pitch. I am looking for a funder/s who can understand this problem, and wants to be part of the solution.