Back when it was simple--Original Rules

[bard]

Doing some investigation on basketball history, and I thought some of you may be interested in the following--Naismith's 13 original rules of basketball as found at http://www.ku.edu/heritage/graphics/...naismith.html:

1. The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands.
2. The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands, but never with the fist.
3. A player cannot run with the ball. The player must throw it from the spot on which he catches it, allowance to be made for a man running at good speed.
4. The ball must be held in or between the hands. The arms or body must not be used for holding it.
5. No shouldering, holding, pushing, striking or tripping in any way of an opponent. The first infringement of this rule by any person shall count as a foul; the second shall disqualify him until the next goal is made or, if there was evident intent to injure the person, for the whole of the game. No substitution shall be allowed.
6. A foul is striking at the ball with the fist, violations of Rules 3 and 4 and such as described in Rule 5.
7. If either side make three consecutive fouls it shall count as a goal for the opponents (consecutive means without the opponents in the meantime making a foul).
8. A goal shall be made when the ball is thrown or batted from the ground into the basket and stays there, providing those defending the goal do not touch or disturb the goal. If the ball rests on the edge and the opponents move the basket, it shall count as a goal.
9. When the ball goes out of bounds, it shall be thrown into the field and played by the first person touching it. In case of dispute the umpire shall throw it straight into the field. The thrower-in is allowed five seconds. If he holds it longer, it shall go to the opponent. If any side persists in delaying the game, the umpire shall call a foul on them.
10. The umpire shall be 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.
11. The referee shall be the judge of the ball and decide when it is in play in bounds, to which side it belongs, and shall keep the time. He shall decide when a goal has been made and keep account of the goals with any other duties that are usually performed by a referee.
12. The time shall be two 15-minute halves with five minutes' rest between.
13. The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winners.

[Mark Dexter]

This publication is also historically significant in that it is the last rule book that most coaches, sportscasters, and fans have read.

[JRutledge]

Did anyone see the HBO Special :03 to Gold?

The reason I asked is because they went over some of the situations that led up to the Russians beating the US in the Gold Medal Game. Supposebly the entire thing started with a timeout not being granted by a buzzer that a coach had to signal to the table. Appartantly, only the coach could call a timeout. And they had a buzzer system that was suppose to call the timeout instead of asking an official.

Was this rule just for FIBA Rules? Or did the NBA, NCAA or even the NF have a similar rule. Obviously this is for the people that were around playing at that time or officiating (I really did not want to go there ) during that period of the game.

The special was kind of interesting, but it seems like the USA just fell asleep even with all the mistakes made by the table and or officials. Or at least precieved.

Peace

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by JRutledge
Did anyone see the HBO Special :03 to Gold?

Was this rule just for FIBA Rules? Or did the NBA, NCAA or even the NF have a similar rule. Obviously this is for the people that were around playing at that time or officiating (I really did not want to go there ) during that period of the game.

Peace

That was just a FIBA rule,Jeff.None of the other rulesets ever had anything like it.Btw,I remember watching that game-on tape delay.Nobody had a clue what was going on at the end.I remember Howard Cosell almost blew his toupee.

[Mark Padgett]

Look how much simpler the game has become. There used to be 13 rules, now there's only 10.

Seriously, my kids gave me a laminated plaque of a reproduction of Dr. Naismith's original document on which he wrote the 13 rules. It's really cool to see it in his own handwriting.

BTW - hee wuz uh gud spelur, tu.

[Mark Dexter]

Originally posted by JRutledge
Appartantly, only the coach could call a timeout. And they had a buzzer system that was suppose to call the timeout instead of asking an official.

Was this rule just for FIBA Rules? Or did the NBA, NCAA or even the NF have a similar rule. Obviously this is for the people that were around playing at that time or officiating (I really did not want to go there ) during that period of the game.

We should probably check with Oz for the official FIBA interpretation, but (at least from my memory) timeouts are very different under FIBA rules. I believe they can only be requested when the clock is already stopped (i.e., more for coaching purposes than ohmygoshimfallingoutofboundsandneedtokeepposession purposes) and must be recognized by the table and the table officials notify the referee by use of the game horn.

How'd I do, Oz?

[JRutledge]

I am talking about past rules, not current rules. I believe the rule is not the same. But I was just wondering because this problem seemed to be caused by this stupid timeout rule at that time.

Peace

[Oz Referee]

Originally posted by Mark Dexter

We should probably check with Oz for the official FIBA interpretation, but (at least from my memory) timeouts are very different under FIBA rules. I believe they can only be requested when the clock is already stopped (i.e., more for coaching purposes than ohmygoshimfallingoutofboundsandneedtokeepposession purposes) and must be recognized by the table and the table officials notify the referee by use of the game horn.

How'd I do, Oz?

Well done Mark! We'll make you metric yet
The only time that a time-out may be called when the clock is running is if the opposing team has scored. In this case the time out must be requested before the player inbounding the ball has the ball out of bounds. The only person that may request a time out is the Head Coach (or Assitant Coach/Captain if the Head Coach is ejected).

[Mark Dexter]

Originally posted by Oz Referee

Well done Mark! We'll make you metric yet

ACK!

Although, I must confess, I'm a science major and we use the metric system exclusively in class and in labs. (Also, most of what we do in the pharmacy is in metric units.)