The roots of football date back to ancient times. Ball games associated with religion were popular all over the world, especially in China and ancient Rome. The game we know today originated in England during the 16th century. Football is undoubtedly very progressive, but none of the players or elements of the game develop faster than the goalkeeper.
First steps
If we had the chance to see a goalkeeper in action back then, we would hardly recognize him from the other players. Such a goalkeeper wore the same jersey as his teammates. This element only appeared in 1909 when the Scottish league decided to enrich the rules and thus improve the game. The reason was simple. Due to the increasing speed and aggression of the game, there began to be more situations where it was unclear whether the ball was touched by the goalkeeper or an ordinary outfield player. If we want to look at the most important goalkeeper element, namely the gloves, we need to move half a century into the future.
From Argentina to Europe
Goalkeeper gloves, despite their undeniable importance, are a relatively young innovation.
The first mentions of glove use appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, but at that time, goalkeepers wore leather gloves because their hands often got cold in bad weather.
The first man to wear gloves for better goalkeeping results was Amadeo Carrizo, an Argentine player who played for the famous club River Plate, around 1940. Thanks to him, gloves spread into the football world. In 1970, at the World Cup in Mexico, the legend of the English national team, Gordon Banks, also wore gloves for the first time. It was after this major tournament that manufacturers like Uhlsport and Reusch began to emerge, and since then, the properties of gloves have improved dramatically. They started to have better grip, fit better on the hand, and became lighter and lighter. Since the 1980s, a material has also appeared without which today's gloves could not exist – latex. This brought further new innovations, especially two different cuts. One of them was straight, now known as flat, and the other wrapped around the finger, now known as roll finger.
Goalkeepers for themselves
Today's goalkeepers can hardly imagine football without gloves. The game is historically the fastest and most power-based. Goalkeeper gloves thus serve both a gameplay and protective function.
The glove business is constantly growing, and thanks to the great football community and the continuous arrival of new ideas, better features are innovated every year. Moreover, the glove market is not limited to just big companies, but has also given rise to brands like BU1.
