Dead rules

In commemoration of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, The STAR has looked up rules from the long, bloody history of sports, most of which are dead. As in the evolution of anything, you try and find something that works in providing consistency, uniformity, safety and high standards, and can be easily replicated anywhere. Some of these will blow your mind, and leave you outraged.

Timeless rounds. Up to the transition from the 19th to the 20th century, a round did not end until a knockdown occurred, which sometimes lasted up to 45 minutes. Imagine being pummeled by a bare-knuckled Jack Johnson for that long a period, outdoors, in the sweltering heat. Many fighters did not last more than a few fights.

“Unli” rounds. In the early days of professional boxing, there was no set number of rounds. Some fights lasted as long as 75 rounds. Yes, 75 rounds. Individual bouts lasted three hours or more. That number gradually went down to 45, then, by the end of World War I, it finally went down from 20 rounds to the standard of 15, allowing more boxers to actually survive long enough to have careers. 

Height limits. In the first edition of Olympic Basketball in 1936, an attempt was made to increase parity. All players were required to be below 6’3”, since the rules at the time included having a jumpball after every made basket. Luckily those rules were eliminated, since some countries already had commercial basketball leagues with no height restrictions.

No return, no exchange. Organized basketball originally had a rule disallowing players from returning to the game once they were substituted. The understanding was that main players were considered capable of playing the entire game. Then again, games were not as tiring, as there was no shot clock; some coaches even instructed players to pass the ball up to 35 times before attempting to shoot the ball.

Soccer kicks to the head. Outrageously, this is a recent development in international mixed martial. A large, multinational fighting league has allowed its participants to kick their opponent in the head when he goes down. This could do irreparable damage to the fallen opponent, particularly if the referee is slow to intervene. 

Side-outs. Volleyball was a far cry from what it is today. Instead of the fast-paced, action-packed game of today, we had a seemingly interminable series of rallies that ended in a... side-out. All that work just to determine that the other team would get next possession. The FIVB started campaigning to make the game more TV-friendly in the late 1980’s. The US NCAA adopted rally point scoring in 2001. This accelerated scoring, and also made matches more meaningful.

No weight divisions. Believe it or not, in the earliest days of boxing, many of today’s standard rules did not exist. Among these was the limitation on weight disparity between boxers. In some of the earliest bouts, some pugilists were often up to 70 pounds heavier than their opponents. This resulted in some very serious injuries that prematurely ended many a fighter’s career. It was in the 1820’s that weight classes were established, and the original seven divisions were settled on.

No jersey numbers. H.V. Porter was perhaps the first to document amateur basketball on film. He industriously shot black and white footage of high school games in Illinois in the 1920’s. One thing you will notice is that there are no jersey numbers on any of the players. Some teams had a small school crest on the upper right breast, some had nothing. It must have been a nightmare for referees to call infractions on errant players. Jersey numbers came into use in the 1930’s. In later international competition, though, you could not wear the numbers 1, 2 or 3, as they were also hand signals of the referees.

It will be interesting to see how changing times and improving technology influence the next stage in the evolution of sports.