Alternate History Sports / The American Zoneball League - 1944 Season (ON HIATUS UNTIL 6/8)

**Posted by CCLXXXVII** 5/18/2019 11:16 am

What is spoilered below is the entire original post. If you scroll down, however, I do have the current teams as well as a brief history of the sport I have created, zoneball.

I was a longtime lurker on the CCSLC forum. I had always planned to create my own sports league; however, the imminent closure of the Sports Fan Fiction subforum derailed those plans.

However, I soon found out about this new forum, and I realized that this was my chance. So, here we go.

Your'e probably wondering what "zoneball" is. Well, it's a sport of my own making that combines elements of various sports, most notably soccer and Aussie rules football. To begin, here is the playing field:

It is 110 yards long by 67 yards wide; between the sizes of a football field and a standard soccer field.

There are a total of 13 players on the field at a time, with a minimum of 3 forwards, 2 midfielders, 2 defensemen, and 1 goalkeeper. Notice I said minimum number of players; this means that the 13 on the field can be arranged in any way so long as it meets the parameters I just mentioned. If a team were to focus on defense over offense and completely stock up on defense, they could, theoretically, go with a 3-2-7 format instead. This rule does not apply to goalkeepers; they must only have one on the field at a time.

The ball is of similar size to a Size 3 soccer ball, and can be either kicked across the field (like in soccer) or thrown to other players (like in rugby).

There are three ways to score; goals (worth 5 points), overs (worth 3), and behinds (worth 1). Goals are scored by kicking/throwing the ball into the goal. Overs are scored by kicking/throwing the ball over the two middle poles on top of the goal. Behinds are scored by kicking/throwing the ball between one of the over posts and a behind post on the side of the goal. Unique to zoneball is the double lines closer to the center circle; any points scored from behind the line are worth double.

The game is played in 4 17-minute quarters, with a 15-minute break at halftime. If the scores are tied at the end of regulation, 7-on-7 8-minute overtime periods are played until a winner is determined.

League logo:

CURRENT TEAMS:

A BRIEF HISTORY (under construction)

Last edited by CCLXXXVII (6/01/2019 10:37 am)

**Posted by NoE38** 5/18/2019 11:21 am

Looks pretty good! do the areas behind the goal mean anything, like can you play in them, or are they something else?

**Posted by CCLXXXVII** 5/18/2019 11:23 am

NoE38 wrote:
Looks pretty good! do the areas behind the goal mean anything, like can you play in them, or are they something else?

Those are actually recovery areas for any overs/behinds. When one is scored, the ball is actually not ruled dead; any player can actually go and grab it.

**Posted by CCLXXXVII** 5/18/2019 4:01 pm

A few more technical notes:

-There are also penalties in the game, and they are in three categories: minor, middle, and major. Instead of a player getting time in a penalty box, points are actually removed from the score of the team that committed the penalty. Minors remove one behind, middles one over, and majors one goal. In addition, if a player manages either six minors, three majors, or two middles, they are ejected from the game. If a penalty were to block an attempted shot, a penalty kick/throw is awarded to the player that was blocked.

-Each roster has 26 potential players that can play in a game, with full rosters capped at 32.

-Each spot on the field generally only has two people that can play on it: a starter and a reserve. Substitutions are unlimited and can happen at any time; however, a subbing player must signal to an official that he is switching.

I think that those are the most important rules of the game. The league will have 8 teams to start. I'm hoping to get the first one up tonight.

**Posted by CCLXXXVII** 5/18/2019 4:21 pm

Fun fact: apparently I had already done the uniforms and some of the logo of the first team, so I just went ahead and finished it out. So, without further ado, the Toronto Patriots!

The logo is a shield with a maple leaf on the bottom and the flag of England on top (to represent the colonial heritage). The general crest shape is taken from the current flag of Ontario, and the maple leaf from the current Canadian flag. They also have an alternate that's simply a maple leaf.

Their uniform (at first, each team will only have one uniform) is a bit loud, but I think it works. It has the crest on the front with some white stripes on the jersey and shorts.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Reuploaded images at a higher resolution. That should fix the blurring

Last edited by CCLXXXVII (5/18/2019 4:36 pm)

**Posted by NoE38** 5/18/2019 5:12 pm

I feel like you give a team to Montreal, and make them Quebec/French themed, they'll have a HUGE rivalry with Toronto.

**Posted by Darknes** 5/18/2019 6:03 pm

Are those the Modern uniforms or the ones in '44?

If so they wouldn't have had the current maple leaf since they were still using the Red Ensign.

**Posted by CCLXXXVII** 5/18/2019 7:22 pm

NoE38 wrote:
I feel like you give a team to Montreal, and make them Quebec/French themed, they'll have a HUGE rivalry with Toronto.

Interesting idea! I think I will move one of the East Division teams there instead of where I had them originally.

Darknes wrote:
Are those the Modern uniforms or the ones in '44?

If so they wouldn't have had the current maple leaf since they were still using the Red Ensign.

Yeah, I was thinking that too, but my research stated that the maple leaf has been used as a Canadian symbol even before 1944, so I was going for that.

Thanks for the input! I'll try and get the next team up soon.

**Posted by Zac_Seidemann** 5/19/2019 6:34 pm

Nice stuff so far.

**Posted by CCLXXXVII** 5/19/2019 7:33 pm

Zac_Seidemann wrote:
Nice stuff so far.

Thanks.

By the way, when it comes to it, would any of you participate in an expansion/relocation committee?

I am planning on getting the next team up tonight (it will also contain the first story elements in the thread).