American Throwball Association

[fishheatcats]

Hey all, first concept post in awhile. This is an idea I was toying around with for a long time, eventually put together but then it kinda stalled out(I had more teams in mind but only got 4 done). Anyway I figured better to post it now than never. Maybe someday I'll get around to the other teams.

The idea is for a new sport and league, which I've dubbed "Throwball". It's a mix of elements from American Football, Rugby and Soccer. I've grown tired of the American football I grew up loving, but the other forms of football(such as Rugby or Aussie Rules) are hard to come by on TV and I've never really become enthralled with the games in their entirety, though I like some elements of each. So I figured I'd invent my own code of football taking cues from each.

This new sport would be governed by the "American Throwball Association", and the league would be sponsored and called the "Coca-Cola ATA Premiership", in the style of European soccer leagues.

The basics of the game were created with ease of play(and popular adoption of the sport) in mind, so that any standard American football and field(and stadium) could be used to play, even without repainting the field. The rules are as follows:

PLAYERS

- 9 vs. 9

- Roster size: 25

- Active Roster: 20

Subs on the fly

BALL

- Standard American Football size with varying designs from year to year

Field

- Standard American Football dimensions: 100 yards by 50 yards, plus two 10 yard by 50 yard endzones at each end of field.

- Two Penalty Areas marked at ?20 Yard Line?.

- Standard American Football Goalposts located at back of each endzone

PLAY

- Home team receives first

- Kickoff from penalty spot

- Game is divided into two 30 minute halves, with a 15 minute halftime rest period

- Clock stops only for injuries

- Teams switch endzones at start of 2nd half, with home team choosing which half they wish to attack first

- Offensive team has 4 Downs(tackles) to score via touchdown or field goal or possesion is lost

- Following a tackle, play is resumed from the spot where the tackle was made

- There is no offsides, players may be positioned anywhere on the field

- Ball may be passed forwards and backwards by any means

- Offensive team surrenders possession if ball is lost out of bounds(regardless of which team touched it last) and ball is returned to play via throw in

- Balls lost out of endzone are returned to play via throw in from penalty line

- Ball is always live, including incomplete forward passes

- Any ball recovered by defense is a live play, and ensuing tackle does not count against 4 offensive downs

- Once offensive team advances ball into penalty area, retreating out of penalty area (ball traveling backwards over line) results in a turnover. Play is resumed from the penalty line.

- After a score, the possession changes and play resumes immediately from the goal line

- There are no timeouts or commercial breaks during play

SCORING

- Touchdowns = 3 points

- A Touchdown is scored by either carrying a ball into, receiving a pass in, or recovering loose ball in the offensive endzone

- Field Goals = 6 points

- A Field Goal is scored by sending the ball through the goal posts via punt or drop kick from live play or free kick. Being more difficult to convert, Field Goals are worth more points than Touchdowns

- A ?Saftey? will be scored as a Touchdown(3 points) for team on defense. Any ball either a) covered by offensive team in own endzone or lost out of bounds in own endzone will be scored as such

FOULS

- Fouls awarded at one of 3 on-field referee?s discretion and include:

- Punching, elbowing, kicking, tripping or any other malicious act towards opponent

- Impeding the movement of non-ball carrier in ANY WAY, applies to offensive and defensive players

- A free kick will be awarded to team that was fouled at the spot of the violation

- Free kicks may be only be taken via punt or drop kick, no holder/tee

- Any foul committed by an offensive player results in loss of possession and free kick

- Foul in penalty area results in free kick attempt from penalty spot.

- On Penalty Kicks, no defensive player way cross the penalty line, giving the kicker a clear shot at the goal posts

- At referee?s discretion, serious misconduct can be penalized with a Yellow Card(warning). 2 Yellow Cards in the same match result in a Red Card and ejection from the match. Ejected players miss remainder of match, the following match, and team may NOT subsitute for the player. Red Cards may be issued without prior Yellow Card for especially serious violations.

[fishheatcats]

Now on to the teams! I came up with 4, the idea being to place the clubs in cities that do not have NFL teams or a major pro sports presence. There are no helmets, and only lightly padded jerseys, the goal being to curb reckless plays and injuries. The less padding, the less likely you are to go head first at somebody.

For the designs of the uniforms themselves, the only stipulation I imposed was a number on the back. The rest of the design would be left up to the team. Let's start with the Sacramento Sparrows:

For the Sparrows I went with a small, soccer style crest on the front, with the team name and number not unlike a basketball jersey. The back has room for a sponsor, in this case Ebay. It's been quite some time since I came up with this idea, and for the life of me I can't remember any explanation for the team name or color choices lol.

[fishheatcats]

Next up is the Fort Lauderdale Avengers:

This is more of a tradition football jersey, with the large number on the front as well as the back. The team name and logos are inspired by the 5 TBM Avengers that were lost in the mysterious Flight 19 incident in the Bermuda Triangle in 1945. That flight took off from Fort Lauderdale. The colors were chosen to tie in with other South Florida sports teams the Strikers, Heat and Panthers.

[fishheatcats]

Here we have the Richmond Raccoons:

This is closer to a soccer set. Hooped stripes and a sponsor on the front. The colors and jerseys are obviously inspired by the crafty critter the team is named after. The Raccoon is a sadly underused mascot IMO. This happens to be one of my favorite logo sets I've ever done. The wordmark features scratch marks and the alternate "RR" mark has the paw prints of the feisty creature.

[fishheatcats]

Last but not least is the Las Vegas Jacks:

Another set I've quite proud of. The name "Jacks" is a play on the classic Vegas gambling theme, but the mascot is the desert jack rabbit. Kind of a hybrid jersey design with the smaller numbers on the front.

Hope you enjoy these! C&C always welcome!

[JamieRose]

I must say I do love creative concepts, and this is among the most creative I've seen since the NAKL (Kickball) contest a few years back. I love the concept of the game and the designs, and I really hope you get to do some more teams!

[prospect13]

These all look pretty sweet, but I'm a tad confused. Are the players gonna be wearing football jerseys and pads with soccer shorts and socks? Or is the shirt template just a little bulky?

[raysox]

Beautiful. Absolutely.

Jeez, what did I start with this new game stuff, ahahah.

[Somppi]

I love your "style" in all of your concepts, you're very talented. I'll definitely being following this

[fishheatcats]

These all look pretty sweet, but I'm a tad confused. Are the players gonna be wearing football jerseys and pads with soccer shorts and socks? Or is the shirt template just a little bulky?

Sort of, I'm thinking kicker level pads at the most. I just got kinda lazy and used the jersey from my football template and the shorts and socks from my soccer template lol.

[north dakota]

I like the Richmond Raccoons concept, it's very creative.

[jaha32]

Nice work. I liked the Jacks best. Creative to use jackrabbits with the card Jack. It's genious. The primary Jacks logo is also sweet in style. Sparrows is also very solid. Im not a huge fan of the Raccoons. the arms look awkward and the wordmarks is kind of plain. But overall nice work.

Just one thing I couldnt keep inside - Why the sponsors on jersey??? It seems that the US is the only country in the world whose pro teams havent sold their souls and identities to sponsors. I guess if you have to use sponsors, they look ok if theyre small on the left or right chest area or the way Arena Football does it. Plus where you have them now, they'd get tucked into their shorts and no one could see the entire sponsor Im assuming (which would be good IMO!!)

[fishheatcats]

Nice work. I liked the Jacks best. Creative to use jackrabbits with the card Jack. It's genious. The primary Jacks logo is also sweet in style. Sparrows is also very solid. Im not a huge fan of the Raccoons. the arms look awkward and the wordmarks is kind of plain. But overall nice work.

Just one thing I couldnt keep inside - Why the sponsors on jersey??? It seems that the US is the only country in the world whose pro teams havent sold their souls and identities to sponsors. I guess if you have to use sponsors, they look ok if theyre small on the left or right chest area or the way Arena Football does it. Plus where you have them now, they'd get tucked into their shorts and no one could see the entire sponsor Im assuming (which would be good IMO!!)

I'm not the biggest fan of sponsors either, however when it comes to say, a start up league for a new sport, it would make financial sense to sell space to sponsors. So in a sense I included them for realism, because if something like this ever happened I'm sure sponsorship would certainly be a part of it.

As I've become a bigger and bigger soccer fan I've gotten used to it. I still would not be happy if my MLB, NHL, NBA or NFL team decided to put a sponsor on it's jersey, because in those sports in North America it's just not traditional. But since by the time I seriously started following soccer, most MLS teams even had sponsors, it seems normal to me. Just as a baseball or basketball jersey looks odd with a sponsor on it, a soccer jersey looks odd to me without one.

[fumbler]

SCORING

- Touchdowns = 3 points

- A Touchdown is scored by either carrying a ball into, receiving a pass in, or recovering loose ball in the offensive endzone

- Field Goals = 6 points

- A Field Goal is scored by sending the ball through the goal posts via punt or drop kick from live play or free kick. Being more difficult to convert, Field Goals are worth more points than Touchdowns

Really i can't see how a touchdown is worth less points take it from me, i watch union and league and when you see teams kicking drop goals and penalty goals instead of going for trys - touchdowns it really annoys you.

I think you should have:

Touchdowns 4 points

Drop Goals 3 points

Penalty goals 2 points

Kicked Conversions 1 point

Run in Conversions 3 points

[DaRadniz29]

fishheatcats - This is really intriguing. With all these new sports getting developed, that other league really needs to get their act together or they will be the Forgotten League.

Not sure if you've checked out a sport I've been developing for the last three years, and am just about ready for a test game or two. It's Called Field Ball. Head to the Sports In General section and check it out. Also my temporary website for it is in my sig.

I really like your logos for the ATA. The field looks promising. Not too sold on the colors of the teams, and I live just outside Sacramento and not sure Sparrows works for this kind of team. Sacramento has a pretty big railroad history. Maybe Sacramento Steamrollers of or Golden State Boilermakers fit better.

I also got more interested in Aussie Rules Football and other similar sports. I'm starting to think the CFL should attempt to take hold of some US cities while that other league is on strike. I like the CFL's game better. It's more fast paced. Love the unlimited motion before the snap. NFL has too much down time.

Good work. Do you have more team concepts your working on?

[gatek99]

wow this is really awesome, great concepts, great logos, great game. I really hope you come up with more teams

[DaRadniz29]

I do have one question after reading the rules and gameplay more closely. There's no offsides and players can line up anywhere on the field. Would there then be a lot of "Cherry Picking" ? You know just a bunch of guys, offense and defense standing in the endzone waiting for the ball? Kind of like that game, ah, I forget the name, but one guys throws a football in the air to three four or however many guys yards down the field and whoever catches three first becomes the thrower. Wasn't it 3ups or something?

Maybe you don't mind that aspect or want it for all I know, but it just crossed my mind as in Field Ball that was one of my issues. Since the offside Line doesn't necessarily prevent cherry picking, I put in place a Delay of game and shot clock activation with the Refs able to have discretion. My rule applies to both offensive and defensive players.

If I missed something that prevents this let me know.

[gatek99]

I do have one question after reading the rules and gameplay more closely. There's no offsides and players can line up anywhere on the field. Would there then be a lot of "Cherry Picking" ? You know just a bunch of guys, offense and defense standing in the endzone waiting for the ball? Kind of like that game, ah, I forget the name, but one guys throws a football in the air to three four or however many guys yards down the field and whoever catches three first becomes the thrower. Wasn't it 3ups or something?

Maybe you don't mind that aspect or want it for all I know, but it just crossed my mind as in Field Ball that was one of my issues. Since the offside Line doesn't necessarily prevent cherry picking, I put in place a Delay of game and shot clock activation with the Refs able to have discretion. My rule applies to both offensive and defensive players.

If I missed something that prevents this let me know.

I am assuming its just like ultimate frisbee

[fishheatcats]

As far as "cherry picking", my logic on it is that would not be a very effective play in this sport. The defense would simply have to mark those players who are standing around in the endzone. Since the ball is always live, and if deflected out of bounds by either team it's a turnover, it's a risky play to try and make.

It would basically be a hail mary kind of situation with everyone just standing around in the endzone. All the defense has to do is swat it out of play. A low percentage play in my books.

The real meat of the game would be making runs into open space, players away from the ball working to get free to advance the ball or to get a good open look at a field goal. Standing around in the end zone takes that movement out of the offense and is prone to easy turnovers.

[gatek99]

you need to make more of these!