| Other Sports at Celtic Park | Celtic Park |
Details
Ref: Pushball sport
Date: Nov 1902
Pushball
There have been a number of different team sports played at Celtic apart from football: Rugby Union, Rugby League and Shinty amongst others.
One of the most curious though has been ‘Pushball‘. Before you ask, this is a strange sport that was popular in US universities in the early 20th Century that made its way over to Europe, but was to be no more than a curiosity.
An exhibition match was played in Nov 1902 at Celtic Park in front of 2000 spectators. God knows what they made of it.
Thankfully it didn’t make much headway over time, either in Glasgow or beyond.
One of the strangest sporting events ever held at Celtic Park on the field.
The basic set of rules are:
” Pushball is a game played by two sides on a field usually 140 yards (128 m) long and 50 yd (45.7 m) wide, with a ball 6 feet (1.83 m) in diameter and 50 lb (22.7 kg) in weight.
The sides usually number eleven each, there being five forwards, two left-wings, two right-wings and two goal-keepers.
The goals consist of two upright posts 18 ft (5.5 m) high and 20 ft (6.1 m) apart with a crossbar 7 feet from the ground.
The game lasts for two periods with an intermission.
Pushing the ball under the bar counts 5 points; lifting or throwing it over the bar counts 8.
A touchdown behind goal for safety counts 2 to the attacking side.”
The picture below is of a Pushball game in the Netherlands.
