ABSTRACT
The first pushball was made in Newton, Massachusetts in 1894, thus making the game an American inspiration. The ball was large, at least the height of an average man, and because of its round shape it looked as if it could bowl over a set of human ninepins with ease. To construct the ball, four leather hides cut in six sections were used to cover a wooden frame held together with belting hooks. Inside the frame, a bladder made of rubber cloth also cut in sections and cemented together allowed the ball to be inflated. The cost of a pushball was about $175, a tidy sum in those days. The final requirements for competition were a field with a goal at each end and two opposing teams striving to shove the ponderous pushball through a goal for a score.
