The Magnus effect has been studied on spherical projectiles such as golf balls, tennis balls, and soccer balls. The backspin of a golf ball leads to Magnus lift that opposes gravity, thus allowing the ball to fly further. The dimples of a golf ball enhance the effect.
I am interested to know whether there is also a lift produced on a back-spinning prolate spheroid, such as the balls used in rugby, Australian rules football (also known as AFL, footy), and American football (also known as gridiron).
My understanding of the Magnus effect is that it usually applies to a spherical ball with backspin in an oncoming stream of air (either because the air is moving, or because the object is moving through the air). The backspin means that the top of the ball is moving with the air, whereas the bottom of the ball is moving in the opposite direction to the air. The slower relative speed at the top of the ball preserves laminar flow around the top of the ball that curves downwards over the top of the ball, whereas the bottom of the ball produces turbulent flow that quickly separates from the ball. The downward air steam over the top of the ball means that there is net downward momentum imparted to the air particles, and thus an equal and opposite force acting to lift the ball. What I am wondering, is whether the profile of a rugby ball would enhance this effect (if we think of a rugby ball as a sphere with 2 long shallow dimples shaved off), or whether it would destroy the effect completely, thus resulting in nothing but drag.
(I'm aware that handballs and certain kicking styles can result in torpedo rotation about the long-axis, and thus the Magnus effect applies to the circular cross-section in a cross-wind. But in this question I'm specifically interested in the effect when a vertically oriented rubgy ball is kicked directly into oncoming air and rotating about it's short-axis end-over-end)
