List No. 102

BASKET. BALL.

James Naismith

December 6th, 1891

In December 1891, having been asked to invent a new indoor game for his students during the winter months, a Canadian teacher named James Naismith wrote this 13-point list of rules and attached it to the wall of a gym at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. In fact, the game he had just invented was basketball. Over the years the list evolved to include rules for such things as dribbling and dunking. Today, the official rules of basketball, as approved by the FIBA, are 80 pages long. The original draft of this list was sold by Sotheby’s auction house in 2012 for $4.3 million.

Basket Ball

The ball to be an ordinary Association foot ball.

  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 (never with the fist).
  3. A player cannot run with the ball, the player must throw it from the stop on which he catches it, allowance to be e for a man who catches the ball when running at a 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, tripping or striking, in any way the person of an opponent shall be allowed. The st infringement of this rule by any person shall count as a foul, the second shall disqualify him until the next l is made, or if there was evident intent to injure the person, for the whole of the game, no substitute allowed.
  6. A foul is striking at the ball with the fist, violation of rules 3 and 4, and such as described in rule 5.
  7. If either side makes three consecutive fouls it shall count a goal for the opponents (consecutive means without opponents in the meantime making a foul).
  8. A goal shall be made when the ball is thrown or batted from the grounds into the basket and stays there, providing se defending the goal do not touch or disturb the goal. If the ball rests the edge and the opponent moves the ket 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 person first touching it. In e of a dispute the umpire shall throw it straight into the field. The thrower in is allowed five seconds, if he ds it longer it shall go to the opponent. If any side persists in delaying the game, the umpire shall call a foul them.
  10. The umpire shall be judge of the men, and shall note the fouls, and notify the referee when three consecutive ls have been made. He shall have power to disqualify men according to Rule 5.
  11. The referee shall be judge of the ball and shall decide when the ball is in play, in bounds,and to which side it ongs, and shall keep the time. He shall decide when a goal has been made, and keep account of the goals with any er duties that usually performed by a referee.
  12. The time shall be two fifteen minutes halves, with five minutes rest between.
  13. The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winners. In case of a draw the game may, by agreement the captains, be continued until another goal is made.

First draft of BasketBall rules.

Hung in the gym that the boys might learn the rules - July 1891 [signed] James Naismith 6-28-31