Would it not e possible to use an american football, and apply transparency to the stitching areas? It's been some time since I last saw a football, so I can't remmeber just how different the shapes are... but if the stitching were a separate group, with the ball actually running underneath (which seems to me the easier way of modeling int, rather than actualy creating the stitching bumps in relief from the ball), then there's no reason you couldn't just make them 'disappear' from the render, then apply a rugby-esque texture map on the skin of the ball itself. Just a thought, jonthecelt