The Official Rulebook of the Australian Contact Cricket League

 

Official Rulebook of the Australian Contact Cricket League

Revised Edition (2021)

Written and Edited by KM May, 2021, Australian Contact Cricket League Rules Committee



Originally published in 1984 by the Australian Contact Cricket League and the Australian Death Sport Commission. Official rules are subject to change only by decision of the ACCL with approval from a special committee of the ADSC, to ensure viability and establish liabilities for the League, Players, Officials, and Commercial Partners. The ACCL and the ADSC allow reprinting of elements from this Rulebook where Fair Use may apply, and for the purpose of disseminating the rules of the game to Players or Officials. The authors/publishers reserve all copyrights.



HISTORY

In the early days of Australian colonialism, soldiers, convicts, and free settlers alike found common interests in the fledgling sports of their homelands. Among the more popular sports, thanks in large part to English occupation, was cricket. Variations of the rules were frequently adopted to accommodate inconsistencies with the playing surfaces in the almost-entirely undeveloped new grounds, which were often simple fields adjacent to prisons colonies. Most of these variants were forgotten as the facilities slowly improved. However, one variant of the rules remained: Contact Cricket.

The sport’s origins are uncomplicated; a game began in a wide field near the colony of Moreton Bay between inmates and guards. Tempers became flared and as a storm loomed, a lone unnamed prisoner who had been kept off the field of play as a reserve – the feared “12th Man” – approached the field with a spare bat in his hand and began assaulting the guards. This resulted in a small riot in which all guards and inmates were injured but luckily nobody was killed.

The following year, the guards and players elected to face each other in a rematch. This time the game continued in a more orderly fashion, with shortened rounds to speed up play and guarantee a sooner result. However, tensions remained high and all the players were becoming increasingly rowdy as the inmates gained a lead on their opponents in the third round of play.

The long game was soon threatened by looming storm clouds again, just as in the year prior. Unwilling to forego a sure victory over their captors, the prisoners proposed a change to the rules to speed up play further. With this change, all of the players would be on the field at once, and each would be equipped with a bat. The guards, enticed by the opportunity to thrash their prisoners with impunity, agreed. And with that, the first game of contact cricket was underway.

Prisoners beat the guards: 76 – 42, with significant injuries in all rounds of play.

The game persisted in backyards and prison-yards until the deployment of Australian troops in the First World War. After this time, the game was regarded as too dangerous to play as it regularly resulted in serious injuries and occasionally death. It was deemed counter to the war effort, and henceforth banned in schools and jails. Ultimately the game was forgotten by newspapers, media, and eventually the general population as commercial sporting bodies began establishing their safer, more-traditional sports in the Australian culture. The game of Contact Cricket became a relic of our sporting past, played only by historical enthusiasts and violent offenders.

In the late 1970s, coinciding with a marked increase in armed robberies in Australia’s eastern states, the sport of Contact Cricket experienced something of a revival within the nation’s penal system and eventually spilled out into the suburbs once again. This formative era in the sport’s history gave rise to a formal set of rules and standards, which encouraged inter-team rivalries at a local level. This era of sporting achievement provided the story of Contact Cricket with such esteemed legends as Tony “Shinboner” Marsten, Jim “Jimbob” Roberts, and Farouk “Fuck You” Aleem.

The fledgling local league began organizing wider tournaments and garnering grassroots support from the community, until finally in the Spring of 1983 four teams from Queensland, two from NSW, three from Victoria, and a team representing the Northern Territory formed a coalition to formalize the rules and the structure of the sport, and afford the game broader community interest (in light of the high number of arrests and legal actions participants had endured up to that date).

Australia remains the only country where the sport is legally played.

RULES

Contact Cricket is played with a flat wooden bat and a hard, leather ball on a large oval field. Two teams of 11 players each compete to achieve the highest score.

The object of the game is to score “runs”, which is when a player successfully strikes the ball and then runs the distance between each wicket at centre-field. Opposing players will attempt to return the ball to a wicket before the “runner” makes it to the line of safety, called the “crease”.

A traditional 3-pillar wicket is used, as in Test Cricket. The centre-field area where the wickets are positioned is called the pitch. The pitch is generally to be kept dry with extra-short grass, or no grass at all, to increase speed and bounce of the ball. Grass in the field is to be kept short and level to aid the ball rolling unimpeded.

PLAYERS

Each team is allowed 11 players. Due to safety considerations, Contact Cricket does not allow a 12th Man as in the Test Cricket version of the rules.

Two umpires are included in the field of play to ensure adherence to the rules of the game and to call stoppages in case of serious injury or death. Umpires are also afforded the ability to call Fouls where a Player has breached the Rules of Physical Conduct.

GAME STRUCTURE

Contact Cricket is a game that spans over four rounds, called “overs”, over two halves, called “innings”. Each of these overs represents a quarter of the game and spans 15 minutes (as in Australian Rules Football, which derived many of its practical rules by sharing fields and players with early Contact Cricket Players) for a total game-time of 60 minutes. This means that one “team” needs to score more runs over the course of two quarters of play than the other team.

Each team begins “at bat” twice per game. When a team is “at bat”, they have batsmen at each of the wickets. When a ball is hit, the runners can attempt to run to the opposite wicket to score a point, or “run”. If the ball is returned to the crease or strikes a wicket, the Runner is out and must return to the player pool on the field.

The Bowler may sheathe their bats on their backs to facilitate bowling freely. Upon releasing the ball, they may unsheathe their bat and return to a defensive position.

All other Players are on the field of play. Each is equipped with a bat and safety-wear. Each player must either aid or disrupt play according to their position in the innings; defensive or offensive. Players on the field cannot score runs until they have been called from the player pool for their turn at bat.

SCORING

The aim of the Runner is to score runs. The ball is bowled toward them and they must hit the ball as far into the field of play as possible. If the Runner is struck by the bowled ball, they must remain in place while the opposite Runner stands at wicket. When the ball is hit into the field of play, the Runner sprints for the opposite wicket, making safety when they cross the line marked as the crease. To do this the Runner must deal with the Wicket Keeper.

The Wicket Keeper is equipped with a double-ended bat and heavy protective gear. The Wicket Keeper’s aim is to prevent the Runner getting to the crease. He stands in front of the wicket and will use extreme prejudice to prevent the Runner making a run. The Runners must overcome the Wicket Keepers to score.

If the Player hits the ball out of the field of play, they are given a score of 6 runs, as in Test Cricket, however they are returned to the player pool and replaced by the next in the batting order.

OUTS

Runners can be called out in a limited number of ways, returning them to the player pool until next innings.

If a Bowler strikes the wicket, the Runner is out.

If a Runner is injured by the Wicket Keeper and cannot cross the crease, he is out.

If the ball is returned to the wicket while the Runner is outside of the crease, he is called “Stumped” and is out.

If the Runner otherwise knocks or molests the wicket, this is also called “stumped” and he is out.

Players on the field cannot handle the ball. Instead, Players must hit the ball in the direction of play with their bats.

If a Player or Runner is caught handling the ball, their team is stripped of 2 runs to discourage interference and enforce compliance.

MULTIBALL

Once an inning, and one per side, a randomized alarm will sound signalling the beginning of Multiball Play. Multiball Play will allow Bowlers to use unlimited extra balls each to bowl towards both Runners simultaneously. This will continue for 2 minutes and each ball on the field at the end of 2 minutes will remain in play until the end of the over.

FIELDING

Players on the field will have bats at hand. Players will prevent the opposite team to attack the ball and will attempt to direct the ball in a preferred direction of play.

Contact will be permitted including shin, leg, arm, bat, and body blows. Intentional head hits are not permitted for the safety and survival of players. The ACCL and ADSC regard previous incidents as tragic accidents and no longer condone the use of high-hit tactics, or the modification of Player bats to include spikes, blades, or additional weights. The ACCL’s legal counsel have advised to no longer allow this kind of behaviour for safety and liability reasons.

Players can hit the ball with both high swings and low ground-hits in order to manoeuvre the ball in the direction of play. Incidental contact with other players will be refereed by the umpires based on severity to ensure contact rules are followed and no other interference occurs, but to also ensure the maintenance of the pace of play.

UNIFORM/SAFETY EQUIPMENT

Due to the high-risk nature of contact sports, protective gear is recommended. The ACCL enforces strict safety protocols, and as such Players and Umpires are required to wear helmets rated to a 5-star ANCAP safety rating. Players are also required to wear moulded shin, chest, and spine guards in all A-Level ACCL tournament matches. The ACCL and ADSC regard previous incidents whereby Players have been injured as tragic accidents and no longer condone Players entering the field of play without the proper safety equipment.

Team/Player uniforms must conform to basic standards of decency as regulated by the ACCL Code of Conduct.

CODE OF CONDUCT

Players and Umpires must obey basic rules of conduct. Personal interactions on the field must not include attacks based on race, nationality, class/economics, disability, gender, sexuality, gang affiliations, beer preference, veganism, vegetarianism, pescatarianism, carnivorism, alcoholism, teetotalism, or religion except for the silly ones (which will be judged on a case-by-case basis by a special committee of the ACCL and the ADSC).

Drug testing will be enforced throughout the tournament season at random, with tests administered by the ACCL Doping Commission. Players who fall below minimum requirements will be brought before the Doping Commission, where they may be fined, administered drugs, or stripped of their right to play in Australia depending on the severity of the offense.

DISCLAIMER

Contact Cricket, the ACCL, the ADSC, and all subsidiaries are subject to Trademark protections. Any entity claiming use of the term “Contact Cricket” as intellectual property or actual property is in breach of the Australian Trademark Regulations Act 2001. Any business or entity gaining pecuniary advantage by use of this material or any other Trademarked material owned by the ACCL or ADSC is liable and may incur civil judgement against them in an Australian Magistrates Court.

The ACCL and the ADSC accept no responsibility for actions undertaken by members of the general public in efforts to imitate or exemplify the dangerous nature of the sport. Warnings are readily available, and common sense should prevail. This is not a real sport, I just fucking hate cricket.