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Pushball

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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a game played by two sides on a field usually 140 yds. long and 50 yds. wide, with a ball 6 ft. in diameter and 50 lb in weight. The sides usually number eleven each, there being five forwards, two left-wings, two right-wings and two goal-keepers. The goals consist of two upright posts 18 ft. high and 20 ft. apart with a crossbar 7 ft. from the ground. The game lasts for two periods with an intermission. Pushing the ball under the bar counts 5 points; lifting or throwing it over the bar counts 8. A touchdown behind goal for safety counts 2 to the attacking side. The game was invented by M. G. Crane, of Newton, Massachusetts, in 1894, and was taken up at Harvard University the next year, but has never attained any considerable vogue. In Great Britain the first regular game was played at the Crystal Palace in 1902 by teams of eight. The English rules are somewhat different from those obtaining in the United States. Pushball on horseback was introduced in 1902 at Durland's Riding Academy in New York, and has been played in England at the Military Tournament.