When Dr. James Naismith invented the game of basketball in 1892, he penned just 13 rules for the amateur participants to follow. Now the official international rules for the highly-followed and multi-billion-dollar game have 50 articles! That’s 36 pages of rules! As the game has evolved, some odd, weird and funny rules have come into the game at all levels.
Here are five rules of basketball you never knew existed:
5.) Fashion Fouls
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Violations of fashion are part of the rules of basketball that aren’t just declared by the haute couture crowd: they can also be called by the refs in a basketball game. There are standard clothing instructions, just like Wimbledon in tennis, where players are required to wear all white.
The rule states that the torso of the jersey must be a single solid color with no designs in the fabric (white for home and a dark color clearly contrasting with white for visitor). Also, if gray is a color choice, it must be for the away jersey and must be closer to black at least by 70 percent. Numbers must be be plain Arabic numerals and must be the same style and color as the number on the back of the jersey.
Unfortunately, in the case of North Lawndale College Prep, their uniforms had arcing strips under the armpits. Oops. In the state tournament, refs called a pre-game technical foul and their opponents, the Centennial Chargers, made the free throw and got the ball to start the game ahead. The Chargers went on to win the game—by one point.
