Blast from the Past The original 13 rules of basketball
Published 10:31 pm Sunday, February 9, 2020
BY C.Y. PETERS
With the basketball tournaments coming up in a few weeks I thought you might enjoy learning about how the rules of basketball were when it was started in Tennessee.
It’s December 1891, Canadian James Naismith, a physical education professor and instructor at the International Young Men’s Christian Association Training School (YMCA) (today, Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, was trying to keep his gym class active on a
rainy day.
He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters.
After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track.
In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, and balls had to be retrieved manually after each “basket” or point scored; this proved inefficient, however, so the bottom of the basket was removed, allowing the balls to be poked out with a long dowel each time.
In 1921 the TSSAA set 13 rules for playing in the state of Tennessee for high schools to compete. Here they are:
Rule 1. The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands.
Rule 2. the ball may be batted in any direction with one of both hands but not the fist.
Rule 3. A player may not run with the ball, he must throw it from the spot he catches it. Allowance will be made if a player catches the ball when running at a good speed if he tries to stop. (This would be good for many older officials, no running).
Rule 4. The ball must be held in or between both hands. The arms or the body cannot be used for holding it.
Rule 5. No holding, shouldering, pushing, tipping, or striking in any way the person of an opponent shall be allowed. The first infringement of this rule by any player should count as a foul: the second shall disqualify him until the next goal is made, or if there was evidence to injure the person, for the whole of the game, no substitute allowed.
Rule 6. A foul is striking at the ball with the fist, violation of Rule 4, 5 and such as described in Rule 6.
Rule 7. If either side makes three consecutive fouls it shall count as a goal for the opponents (consecutive means without the opponents in
the meantime making a foul).
Rule 8. A goal shall be made when the ball is thrown or batted from the grounds into the basket and stays there, providing those defending the goal do not touch or disturb the goal.
If the ball rest on the edge and the opponents move the basket, it shall count as a goal. (I guess you would call that today goaltending).
Rule 9. When the ball goes out-of-bounds it shall be thrown onto the field of play by the person first touching it. In case of a dispute, the umpire shall throw it straight onto the field.
The thrower-in is allowed five seconds; If he holds it any longer it shall go to the opponent. If any side persists in delaying the game, the umpire shall
call a foul on that side.
call a foul on that side.
Rule 10. The umpire shall be the judge of the men and shall note the fouls and notify the referee when three consecutive fouls have been made. He shall have the power to disqualify men according to rule 5.
Rule 11. The referee shall be the judge of the ball and shall decide when the ball is in play in-bounds, to which side it belongs, and shall keep time. He shall decide a goal has been made and keep account of the goals with any other duties that are usually performed by a referee.
Rule 12. The time shall be two 15-minute halves, with five minutes rest between.
Rule 13. The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winner. In the case of a draw, the game may, by agreement of the captains, be continued until another goal is made.
