If we invented a new team sport now ...

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

...what elements would we include? Most of our current ones came from the Victorian era, and involved to greater or lesser degree the ethics of teamwork; the concept that there were roles in every team for those of all shapes and sizes; and that there were, even within the team structure, specialist roles (goalkeeper, penalty kicker) that would significantly influence the overall outcome. It was all a pretty flimsy allegory to prepare children for life in a battalion at the front, to be honest.

What would a 21st century team sport - from scratch - have to accommodate? T20 in the cricket is the closest anyone's come to creating one, and in truth it's less a team sport than a brutal contest between two particular individuals, the batsman and the bowler. It's like tennis with the ballboys fielding.

Would anyone invent a sport, now, that even risked serious physical injury? Scrimmages? Scrums? I think probably not. Tackles, even? God forbid, people flailing deadly weapons at each other like in Ireland?

Would sheer brute force and strength still be something to be promoted, and rewarded, in the rules, or guile and technique? We'd all like to think the latter, but then all everyone mentions about certain modern players is their sheer physical presence, size or pace.

If you were a teacher at a school now, tasked with coming up "with something like those chaps at Eton and Rugby have come up with", what would your new sport look like?

[Bored Of Education]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

Mine would be a three-sided game with three teams defending three goals a la the Luther Blisset three-sided football. The team conceding the least point would win.

The main reason for this is that it completely deconstructs the existing team ball games - having three side and three teams, winning by conceding least - while still being close enough to existing games to be understood and picked up relatively easily. I used to use the football version when training the kids and, though they found it counter-intuitive to start with, it was one of those games where they had to think rather than just run with the ball aimlessly.

I have a mate who jokes about "Rugby Conference" where we have been touting around rules. I have, so far, introduced the three-sided element, kneeling mauls replacing scrums and mauls and the backward line-out (effectively the same action as when a bride throws the flowers at her bridesmaids)

[Ray de Galles]

If we invented a new team sport now ...





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[ad hoc]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

Bordeaux Education wrote: the backward line-out (effectively the same action as when a bride throws the flowers at her bridesmaids)

They do that in Aussie Rules

[Bored Of Education]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

I prefer this RdG

[Patrick Thistle]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

I invented a game called Warball when I used to help at a youth group. It's like dodgeball but you don't get out if you get hit.

You divide a sports hall length ways. Equal(ish) numbers of kids on each side.

You put 3 cones on each side, spaced out in a row. A tennis ball is balanced on each cone. You use dodgeballs to try and knock the tennis balls off the cones (or pummel each other). Once all three tennis balls come off the cones you've lost. You have to stay on your side of the line at all times.

We also played Warball After Dark where we balanced cheap torches on top of the cones and turned the lights out.

In terms of people inventing actual sports, most kids have heard of Quidditch. Not that it's possible to play in the muggle world.

[evilC]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

Bordeaux Education wrote: Mine would be a three-sided game with three teams defending three goals a la the Luther Blisset three-sided football. The team conceding the least point would win...

There was an American Football inspired, turn-based 'board game' called 'Blood Bowl' that was quite cute in its basic form, with Humans, Orcs, Elves and Dwarves all playing gridiron with added violence, basically.

Don't worry - this isn't my suggestion, though!

However, what occurred to me was that if you bought a second set of the game, you could create a cross-shaped pitch, so that all four teams could play at once, each defending their own endzone, whilst simultaneously attempting to attack the others. In that version, the winner of the game would be the first team to score a touchdown against each of the three other teams in turn.

Now, if you applied that principle to Rugby League or Aussie Rules, it would be interesting! ...Carnage, but interesting! :-)

[Ray de Galles]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

Bordeaux Education wrote: I prefer this RdG

Yes, you'll recall we discussed Spinball recently after I found a cache of old strips online.

I'll admit to a nagging doubt about the "played on a huge pinball machine" element of it.

I can't recall the intricacies of Inferno but the speedway, ice hockey, gridiron and aeroball (it's predecessor in 2000AD. The aeroball team Harlem Heroes became Harlem Hellcats in Inferno) look promising.

[Mumpo]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

I've just realised, after what, 40 years, that 'Spinball' is pinball.

I mean, it's not that the clues weren't there.

[Bored Of Education]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

Ray de Galles wrote:

I prefer this RdG

Yes, you'll recall we discussed Spinball recently after I found a cache of old strips online.

I'll admit to a nagging doubt about the "played on a huge pinball machine" element of it.

I can't recall the intricacies of Inferno but the speedway, ice hockey, gridiron and aeroball (it's predecessor in 2000AD. The aeroball team Harlem Heroes became Harlem Hellcats in Inferno) look promising.

I had completely forgotten about Aeroball.

[Ray de Galles]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

Mumpo wrote: I've just realised, after what, 40 years, that 'Spinball' is pinball.

I mean, it's not that the clues weren't there.

Ha ha!

More info on Inferno here, I increasingly think this is the seventies/eighties sci-fi comic future sport that springs to mind when I recall the genre ;



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[ursus arctos]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

I was going to put this on the annoying NYT articles thread, but it now seems more appropriate here.

Fightball, a venture that could be described as street basketball waged in a nightclub, complete with a D.J., a bar and a V.I.P. lounge. Fightball seeks to commercialize one-on-one street basketball, the sport’s rawest form, and repurpose its unregulated intensity for the Instagram era.

Contact is encouraged. During a recent match, a player yanked his opponent’s ankle in the middle of a dunk, causing him to slam to the ground as spectators snapped photos with their phones. After shirt tugs and two-handed shoves, the flagrant gesture was finally called a foul. A $100,000 prize awaits the victor of the three-night tournament, which begins with 16 players. Mr. Roberts would be one of them.

[Amor de Cosmos]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

Would anyone invent a sport, now, that even risked serious physical injury? Scrimmages? Scrums? I think probably not. Tackles, even?

Well, given the success of UFC and other mixed martial arts contests, the short answer would be "Yes. More blood please."

[Bored Of Education]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

Ray de Galles wrote:

I've just realised, after what, 40 years, that 'Spinball' is pinball.

I mean, it's not that the clues weren't there.

Ha ha!

More info on Inferno here, I increasingly think this is the seventies/eighties sci-fi comic future sport that springs to mind when I recall the genre ;



.

Again, asking the question, where are our fucking jetpacks?

[ursus arctos]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

Here you go, sport.

[Anorak Smith]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote:
If you were a teacher at a school now, tasked with coming up "with something like those chaps at Eton and Rugby have come up with", what would your new sport look like?

None of the above, obviously. Imagine the heap of Health and Safety Risk Assessment forms you'd have to go through to get Spinball on to a school playing field.

We need something more in the spirit of the old Corinthians, except without any physical contact.

[matt j]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

A three sided pyramid, say 25 meters on an edge.
Each corner has a goal (like a pocket).
3 balls (1 racquetball sized, worth 1 point; one basketball sized, worth 2 points, one yoga ball sized worth 3 points).
4 teams of 5 players.
Physical contact between players results in a 1 minute 'freeze' of those players. (Thanks to their advanced protective bodysuits.)
30 minutes.
Team with the lowest score (of points scores in 'their' goal) at the end wins.
Oh, and in a weightless environment.

League structure and points system to be determined.

[Ek weet nie]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

For s modern day school teacher, presumably mixed gender would be high up the list in terms of a meaningful criteria to differentiate existing sports. Tag rugby is the most mainstream social team sport that I've seen do this.

[Reed John]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

Something in near zero gravity. I'm thinking something like lacrosse or water polo but in a cylindrical space with goals in the middle of each end. Spectators could view through transparent sides.

[Patrick Thistle]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

Ek weet nie wrote: For s modern day school teacher, presumably mixed gender would be high up the list in terms of a meaningful criteria to differentiate existing sports. Tag rugby is the most mainstream social team sport that I've seen do this.

There's Korfball, which Korfball players keep trying to tell me is growing in popularity.

Here's my idea: Crushball.

Equipment:
One bouncy castle with one entry/egress
One ball

Object of the game:
One team has to get the ball against the rear wall of the bouncy castle. The other team has to prevent this.

Both teams have a go at being the ball carriers. After the first team achieve the aim, they then have to defend the rear wall for longer than their opponents, meanwhile the second team have to get the ball against the wall more quickly than the first team did.

Admittedly this is a pretty stupid game and people will get hurt / die. It's basically an excuse for a pile on on a bouncy castle.

EDIT: TO evilC - Blood Bowl's ace. I still play it. The crossfield version would probably take an epic length of time however.

[Southport Zeb]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

I'm sure crushball would be safe as long as everyone removed their shoes before entering the bouncy castle.

[Paul S]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

If you want to know what a new team sport would look like today, just look at video gaming and see how much that has changed things.

[Bored Of Education]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

A documentary on three-sided football for research purposes.

[Patrick Thistle]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

In a board game shop yesterday I discovered Dread-ball, which is a tabletop futuristic game that in real life would be a mix of basketball and rugby. Three goals on each side, worth different points depending where you shoot from. The shop owner only had the expansion packs not the starter set but I had a good look at the shop copy and it looks pretty cool really.

[Ginger Yellow]

If we invented a new team sport now ...

If you want to know what a new team sport would look like today, just look at video gaming and see how much that has changed things.

Yeah, the new team sports are League of Legends, DotA and CS: Go.