An almanac of world sport
Where sport comes from,
and how it actually works.
Most sports writing tells you who won. This is the other half: how each game was codified, what its laws really say, where its trophies came from, and who decides the rules. Traced to governing-body texts, competition archives and museum records.
Sources cited on every page Claims dated and verified No betting content
Contents
- 01 Origins & History Where each sport actually came from — who codified it, when, and which rules changed along the way. Dated to primary sources rather than repeated folklore. 10 entries
- 02 Trophies & Competitions The history of the trophies themselves and the competitions behind them — what they are made of, who made them, and how each contest has changed shape. 6 entries
- 03 Rules & Techniques The actual laws of the major world sports in plain language — scoring, positions, officiating and the techniques that follow from them. 117 entries
- 04 How Sport Is Run Governing bodies, qualification formats and competition structure — who sets the rules, who runs the tournaments, and how teams actually get in. 58 entries
Recently published
- 01 Biathlon Rules: A Miss Costs 150 Metres, Except When It Costs a Minute Standing targets are more than twice the width of prone ones — and the penalty for missing changes format to format.
- 02 Netball Rules: Seven Players, Seven Zones, and You Cannot Take a Second Step Every position is banned from most of the court, only four players may enter a shooting circle, and holding the ball for three seconds is an offence.
- 03 Ski Jumping Scoring: 60 Points for Landing Where You Should, and a Refund for Bad Wind Reaching the K-point earns exactly 60 points. Then five judges mark style, the outer two are discarded — and the score is adjusted for the wind you happened to get.
- 04 Snooker Rules: Why the Minimum Foul Is Four Points, and What a Free Ball Really Does Every foul costs at least four — the value of the brown — and a free ball lets you nominate any ball as though it were the one you needed.
- 05 Lacrosse Sixes: The Olympic Format Built by Deleting the Specialists Six players, a 30-second shot clock, and no face-off specialists — because possession simply alternates after a goal.
- 06 Speed Skating's Lane Change: A Rule That Exists to Make the Track Fair The inside lane is shorter, so skaters must swap every lap — and the one moving inward has right of way in the crossing straight.
- 07 Canoe Slalom Penalties: Two Seconds for a Touch, Fifty for a Miss The gap between the two penalties is enormous and deliberate — brushing a pole is survivable, missing a gate ends your run.
- 08 Sport Climbing Scoring: 25 Points for a Top, and a Tenth Off for Every Attempt Bouldering now scores in points rather than counting tops — 25 for finishing a problem, 10 for reaching the zone, and 0.1 deducted per failed attempt.
- 09 Australian Rules Football: The Mark, the Bounce, and 'Prior Opportunity' Catch a kick of fifteen metres and play stops for you. Run fifteen metres without bouncing and you lose the ball. The same number governs both.
- 10 Gaelic Games Scoring: Why the Scoreline Has a Dash in It A goal is worth three points but is recorded separately, so 2-10 means two goals and ten points — sixteen in total, and you have to do the sum yourself.