Chairman, L. W. St. Joun Vice-Chairman, RALPH MorGan Secretary, GEORGE T. HEPBRON Treasurer, A. E. METZDORF Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1106 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 105 Nassau Street, New York City Central Y.M. C. A., Rochester, N. Y. JOINT BASKETBALL COMMITTEE OswaLp ToweEr, Editor ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS MAY 10, 1929. CHANGES IN THE BASKETBALL RULES FOR 1929-1930. The following changes in the basketball rules will go into effect next season. No attempt is made here to give the final wording of these changes as they will appear in the next Guide, this being merely a summary for the benefit of those who need this information prior to the publication of the Guide. 1. Rule 15, Section 1 d. The technical fouls on the jump ball, such as tapping it on the way up, or leaving the circle, have been changed to violations. . 2. Rule 8, Section 5. On a jump ball at center or elsewhere, the jumpers will be forbidden to touch the ball after it has been tapped until it has touched the floor or another player, except that the jumpers may tap the ball a second time if the first tap does not carry the ball to one of the other eight players or to the floor outside the circle. The penalty for infraction of this rule is a violation—ball goes to opponents out of bounds. 3. Rule 15, Penalty for Personal Foul. When a player has been fouled in the act of shooting, the ball 1s to go to center after the second free throw, if the field goal is made. If the field goal is missed, the old rule holds, viz., the ball is in play if the last free throw is missed. 4. Rule 9, Section 1. A goal from the field shall count for the team into whose basket the ball is thrown. A question and answer will be inserted covering free throws into the wrong basket. It is intended to place the responsibility on the referee in the latter instance. If a free throw is made at the wrong basket, and if the mistake is discovered before play has been resumed, the throw is to be disregarded and the player given a throw at the proper basket. 5. Rule 6. Duties of Officials. The umpire is to have authority to call held balls, out-of-bounds, all fouls and violations, and to toss the ball when held ball occurs near him. This amounts to sanction of the “double ref- eree system” with an official always ahead of the ball, each covering one side and one end of the court. The desig- nations “referee” and “umpire” are to be retained, however. 6. No change was made in the method of putting the ball into play, but the Committee felt that there is suf- ficient demand for such a change to warrant experiments with the various proposed methods. Hence an article will appear in the Guide suggesting that the proposed plans bé tried in practice games, and describing briefly one or two of the best proposals. One of these will be that of putting the ball in play at the ends of the court from out- of-bounds after goals and at the beginning of halves. Another plan suggests two circles either side of the present center circle. The player who is to put the ball in play stands in the circle which is farther from his basket with his team behind him, the other team being behind the other circle. Some of the plans provide for abolishing the jump ball entirely, even after held ball. 7, Rule 7, Section 9, last sentence: “Due allowance is to be made for a player who catches the ball while ” The following statement is to be inserted to explain what is considered to be due allowance: running In general, a player who is in rapid motion when he receives the ball should be permitted a two count rhythm in coming to a stop or in getting rid of the ball, the first count occurring as one foot strikes the floor after he re- ceives the ball, and the other count as the other foot strikes the floor, or as both feet strike the floor simultaneously. If after so doing, one foot is in advance of the other, the rear foot shall be considered the pivot foot; but if neither foot is in advance of the other, he may lift either foot, but must get rid of the ball before that foot touches the floor again, or he may jump with both feet, but must get rid of the ball before either foot touches the floor again. The foregoing is not an attempt to rule more strictly, but is in line with the interpretation of the best offi- cials and is intended to aid toward uniformity in decisions on running with the ball. It is probable that many officials interpret the rule more strictly than outlined in the foregoing statement, and in many cases too strictly for the good of the game. It is felt that in general the allowance outlined should be granted, but no more than this. GEORGE T. HEPBRON Chairman Rules Revision Committee. OSWALD TOWER, Editor.