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Basketball Popular in Marmora in early 20th Century

Article courtesy of “News on 7”
The generally recognized ìnventor of basketball, James Naismith,  was born on November 6, 1861, in Almonte, Canada West (now part of Mississippi Mills, Ontario, Canada) to Scottish immigrants. Born and raised on a farm near Almonte, Ontario, Naismith studied and taught physical education at Montreal’s McGill University before
moving to the United States.

The first game of “Basket Ball” was played in December 1891. In a handwritten report, Naismith described the circumstances of the inaugural match.   In contrast to modern basketball, the players played nine versus nine, handled a soccer ball, not a basketball, and instead of shooting at hoops, the goals were a pair of peach baskets: In a radio interview in 1939, Naismith gave more details of the first game and the initial rules that were used:

`` I showed them two peach baskets I’d nailed up at each end
of the gym, and I told them the idea was to throw the ball into the opposing
team’s peach basket. I blew a whistle, and the first game of basketball began.
The boys began tackling, kicking, and punching in the clinches. They ended
up in a free-for-all in the middle of the gym floor.   The injury toll: several black eyes, one
separated shoulder, and one player knocked unconscious. It certainly was murder.”

Naismith changed some of the rules as part of his quest to develop a clean sport.

“The most important one was that there should be no running
with the ball. That stopped tackling and slugging. We tried out the game with
those [new] rules (fouls), and we didn’t have one casualty.”

Photo:   Marmora Basketball Team - 1917 Members (not in order) Tom Butler, Alphonse Shannon, George Bowman, Bill Inkster, Clare Nayler, Fred Presley, Bob Nayler, Boots Pinner (no other names provided)

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