TX Football’s Hikari Ball: Reviving Tradition Through Japanese Craftsmanship

In an era where mass production often comes at the cost of tradition, the Hikari ball represents a quiet defiance. Engineered with a clear mission: to restore the softness, responsiveness, and premium quality that defined a first-class match ball, before mainstream brands drifted away from conventional Japanese materials.

The Hikari ball brings back a silicon base – a feature rarely seen since the early 2000s, when most brands moved away from it due to cost. TX Football has revived this technology, using a silicon gel layer within the TPU foam between the outer cover. The result is a ball that feels more cushioned, softer to the touch, and easier to control. Japan is known worldwide for its unmatched attention to detail and consistency, and the ball mirrors exactly that.

Players immediately notice the difference: the ball feels softer on impact, offers greater responsiveness underfoot, and allows for more precise control. By reviving this material, TX Football has managed to strike a balance between modern durability and the kind of comfort and playability that older match balls were celebrated for. It’s a small change with a big impact, restoring the natural connection between player and ball.

When it comes to performing across different weather conditions and playing surfaces, the Hikari ball lives up to the same high standards as TX Football’s other premium balls. Even in wet conditions, its top layer ensures the ball remains grippy and controllable, minimising any slipperiness.

While some other balls on the market feature a smooth TPU layer that can feel slippery in wet conditions, the Hikari ball stands out with its textured surface and silicon base, making it noticeably easier to control even when the pitch is wet.

Designed to excel in both training environments and competitive matches, the Hikari ball reflects TX Football’s dedication to precision, durability, and high performance. Through the integration of innovative materials and careful craftsmanship, it provides a consistently reliable, premium playing experience, enabling athletes to perform at their highest level with confidence, every time they step onto the field.

Since the company manages every step of production in-house, rather than outsourcing to a factory, it has complete control over quality and costs. This hands-on approach allows the team to oversee every detail, from the materials used to the finishing touches, ensuring that each product meets their high standards.

Without the overhead of a large external manufacturing process, the company can avoid unnecessary expenses, which in turn keeps the price of their products more accessible.

Image credit: One Nil Media

Unlike major market brands, which often rely heavily on name recognition to justify higher price tags, this company focuses on value and fairness. By keeping the mark-up low, they make their products affordable for both parents and players, allowing young athletes to access high-quality equipment without placing a financial burden on families. This approach reflects the company’s belief that great performance shouldn’t come at an unreasonable cost.

Additionally, handling everything internally fosters a sense of pride and accountability. Each ball isn’t just a product; it’s a reflection of the team’s dedication, craftsmanship, and passion for the game. Customers can feel confident that the product they’re purchasing is the result of meticulous care and genuine expertise, rather than mass production driven solely by profit. This philosophy has allowed the TX Football to build a reputation for quality, consistency, and trustworthiness in a competitive market.

By combining affordability, attention to detail, and hands-on production, the company continues to provide equipment that supports players at every level, staying true to its mission of making top-quality sports gear accessible to all.

The Hikari ball is engineered to provide reliable performance over an extended period, with an expected lifespan of around two years under regular weekend play, much like a standard premium football. TX Football recognises that consistent use can naturally wear on even the highest-quality equipment, which is why the company provides a 12-month warranty for constant play.

This warranty offers players and parents reassurance that the ball is built to last and that any issues during regular use are covered. By combining durability, thoughtful design, and reliable performance, the Hikari ball ensures players can enjoy every match with confidence.

TX Football’s in-house designer led the creation of the Hikari ball, developing both its overall structure and the distinctive surface pattern. Drawing inspiration from Japanese aesthetics, the team chose a subtle cherry blossom motif to reflect elegance, precision, and cultural heritage.

This designer plays a key role across the company, contributing not only to ball designs but also to the development of other kit and equipment, ensuring a consistent level of creativity, functionality, and quality throughout TX Football’s product range. Their work combines technical expertise with artistic vision, bringing a thoughtful and distinctive identity to every piece of equipment.

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Bentleigh Greens and Metricon Bring Local Business Community Together Through Networking Initiative

Bentleigh Greens FC has reinforced its commitment to supporting its community beyond football, partnering with Metricon Homes to host a business networking evening designed to strengthen relationships between local businesses, sponsors and club stakeholders.

 

A unique setting for meaningful connections

Held inside one of Metricon’s display homes, the Bentleigh Greens Business Networking Night welcomed around 60 local business owners, club partners and community leaders for an evening focused on connection, collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Rather than a traditional function space, Metricon opened the doors of one of its display homes, creating a unique networking environment that highlighted how the space could be transformed into a premium venue while providing guests with a relaxed setting to build professional relationships.

The event reflects a growing trend across community football, where clubs are increasingly positioning themselves as platforms for business engagement and local economic development, alongside their role in delivering participation opportunities on the pitch.

Guests also heard from strategic futurist Marcus Barber, who delivered a presentation examining the growing influence of artificial intelligence on modern business. His insights encouraged attendees to consider how emerging technologies are reshaping industries and the importance of preparing for future change.

 

Creating value beyond sponsorship

While commercial outcomes were never the primary objective, the evening was designed to create long-term value by fostering meaningful relationships between businesses connected to the Bentleigh Greens community.

Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with several attendees already establishing new contacts and beginning discussions around potential collaborations.

The initiative also highlights Metricon’s broader commitment to supporting local communities beyond residential construction. By partnering with Bentleigh Greens and providing the venue, the company helped facilitate an event that encouraged learning, networking and stronger community connections.

 

Football clubs as community business hubs

For community football clubs, initiatives such as these demonstrate how partnerships can extend beyond traditional sponsorship models. By creating opportunities for local businesses to engage with one another, clubs can strengthen their commercial networks while delivering tangible value to sponsors and the wider community.

As football clubs continue to explore new ways of engaging stakeholders off the field, events like the Bentleigh Greens Business Networking Night illustrate how sport can serve as a catalyst for meaningful business relationships and long-term community growth.

Football NSW builds life‑saving network as cardiac safety push expands

Football NSW has distributed 20 defibrillators to associations and regional clubs through its Every Beat Matters campaign, part of a broader push to improve cardiac emergency preparedness across the state’s football network.

Sixteen of the devices were presented to participating associations at the inaugural Football NSW Association Championships in Mudgee. A further four went to regional clubs: Cowra and District Soccer Club, Westside Panthers, Yerrinbool Bargo Soccer Club and Narooma Football Club.

The rollout builds on the Heartbeat of Sport AED Mapping Project, which is mapping defibrillator placement at sporting facilities across NSW with funding from the Minns Labor Government. Twelve football associations have joined the effort, including Eastern Suburbs, Manly Warringah, Granville, Southern Districts, Nepean, Northern Suburbs, Football Canterbury, Bankstown, Hills, Sutherland Shire, North West Sydney Football and Football South Coast.

Data collected through the mapping project is being fed into NSW Ambulance’s GoodSAM emergency response system and NSW Health’s public AED map, enabling first responders to locate nearby defibrillators in real time.

The initiative responds to a gap that had gone largely unexamined. More than 2,400 defibrillators have been deployed across NSW sports facilities through the Local Sport Defibrillator Grant Program, which offers grants of up to $3,000 to eligible organisations. But a device not registered in emergency response systems provides significantly less value than one that is accurately mapped and immediately locatable.

The urgency is not abstract. At Doyalson Wyee Football Club, a 70‑year‑old player survived a sudden on‑field cardiac arrest because an AED was available on site. Survival rates drop by about 10 per cent for every minute without defibrillation.

Football NSW is also establishing a long‑term defibrillator register to track equipment distribution, access and maintenance across all 636 clubs and 31 associations. The Every Beat Matters campaign, supported by Toyota and St John Ambulance, aims to raise about $240,000 through a raffle to fund an initial rollout of 65 defibrillators to clubs currently without access, prioritising regional and lower socio‑economic areas.

The #HeartHealthMatters Program is delivering CPR and AED familiarisation training to sporting organisations, with a particular focus on regional communities where ambulance response times are often longer and volunteer bases smaller.

The ambition, in the words of project organisers, is straightforward: that no preventable death occurs on a football ground because the right equipment was not there, or could not be found.

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