Gridball
Gridball is a new sport created by Steve Porter from Lisburn in March 2018. Gridball is a team game similar to indoor football played on a grid marked out court. Each team must try to dislodge the ten protected cones at the opponents end of the grid using a ball. First to dislodge all ten wins a set. The game is best of five or seven sets.
Equipment Required: A size four futsal ball, 20 cones [ie traffic cones], 20 tennis balls positioned on each cone.
Sport Description
The court is marked out in a grid of four rows wide and sis rows long. Each square on the grid is 5m x 5m for a total court size of 20m x 30m. at each end of the court, ten cones are positioned at 2m distances with a tennis ball placed atop each cone.
The teams are made up of seven men and nine women, though only four men and six women are on court at any one time. Teams can freely substitute their players at the end of each set.
The four male members of the team occupy the grid squares immediately in front of their cones and act as the defensive unit. The women take position, two from each team in each other row. the female team mates position themselves in grid squares with opposing team members adjacent. thus forming a checkers/draughts effect on the grid.
Play commences with a size four Futsal ball and can be projected using any part of the body. Players can trap the ball with their feet but cannot catch or hold the ball. they can punch the ball.
To kick off one team's defender sets the ball rolling and must attempt to get the ball through the grid to the foremost two attacking female players. In order to do this a teammate in each row must touch the ball on it's journey. the ball cannot be simply punched from the back row of the grid towards the opponents goal.
For example. The defending male player in grid row 1 kicks off to a female team mate in row two. She in turn kicks it to a team mate in row three, etc until it gets to the last row attacking player. If the attacking team achieve this then the final attacker can have a goal attempt, projecting the ball either by kicking, punching or heading the ball towards the cones. If they successfully dislodge one of the tennis balls from the cone this is a score. The set is won when all of one teams tennis balls have been dislodged or the twenty minute set time limit runs out. In that case, the team that has dislodged most balls wins the set.
At the end of each set the teams change ends to ensure there is no possible advantage. The teams can also change their team personnel for the next set. The four defenders are always male members of the team while all other positions are female.
The defending team will attempt to intercept the ball as it moves through the grid, if they get control of the ball they can then attempt to send it back down the grid.
If a player in grid row two attempts to pass to a player in grid row three and the ball rolls past without being touched, the attacking team automatically lose possession and the opposing team can commence an attack from where they collect the ball.
The game is based as a one touch sport, hence players not being able to hold the ball but they can trap it with the sole of the foot before passing. One individual player can touch the ball to control it before passing it, similar to a volleyball player.
Players cannot step outside their grid but can reach beyond it to get the ball as long as their feet stay within the gridlines.
Holding the ball, trapping it dead and keeping it in your square for more than ten seconds, passing backwards r encroaching from their grid incurs a penalty and the player is yellow carded. If they commit a second offence during the same set they are sin binned for three minutes and must leave the court. Similarly if a player is injured, they cannot be substituted until the end of the set.
If the ball leaves the court over the sidelines. It is returned into play to a member of the team that didn't touch the ball last in the same row it was passed from.
If a shot at the cones is made, the defending team kick off again from their defensive line.
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Related Pages
- Other New Sports
- Complete list of unusual sports
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