15 Interesting Facts About Basketball

The most obvious fact about the game of basketball is that it's played on an elevated surface or court. The court is bounded by a (usually) rectangular boundary known as the foul line which splits the floor into two equal halves. At each end of this line, there is a basket, one at the bottom of which is where the ball must pass for it to be considered as having been scored.

Here are 15 interesting facts about basketball:

1. Not everyone can play basketball and the reason is that the court has a minimum width of 8m (26 feet) and a length of 13m (42 feet). The height of the basket above the floor must be 3.05m (10ft) for men's competitions or 2.24m (7 ft 4 in) for women's competitions.

2. The height of the basket above the floor must be 3.05m (10 ft) for men's competitions or 2.24m (7ft 4in) for women's competitions.

3. Basketball was invented by Dr James Naismith in 1891 at a YMCA Training School to keep the gym class busy during a blizzard. He was a Canadian physical education instructor who wanted the players to maintain their fitness and have fun at the same time.

4. James Naismith also invented football, ice hockey and golf as well as the sport of volleyball played by women. In fact, he actually used a soccer ball as it was the only ball available when he started playing basketball.

5. According to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), there are more than 250 million people around the world who play basketball and that's not even counting those who just watch it on television or online.

6. The rules of basketball were first written down by James Naismith in 1891 as 13 principles and these rules haven't changed much since then.

7. The first official game of basketball was played in 1892 when the YMCA team from Springfield, Massachusetts defeated their local rivals, the Monarch club 25–1. The score for this match is still impressive even by today's standards as a 32-point gap between two teams playing a full 48 minutes would only happen in 5% of NBA games.

8. The first professional basketball league was called the National Basketball League (NBL) and was formed in 1898 although most of the teams didn't join until 1904 which meant that most teams were actually amateur at first. This league disbanded in 1949 but gave way to other leagues such as the Basketball Association of America (BAA) which began in 1946.

9. The first exhibition game of basketball was played between the University of Chicago and the local YMCA team at Chicago's Turn Hall on January 18, 1904 to a crowd of 800 people.

10. Dr James Naismith introduced the peach basket as the first basket used in basketball because it was the only kind of basket available to him. It was first suspended at a height of 3.05m (10ft) which became the standard height for the basket thereafter even though there was no technical reason why it had to be this high.

11. The first basketball league outside of North America, Asia's first professional basketball league, was named the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and it began in 1975.

12. The first professional basketball league in Europe was also called the FIBA European Champions Cup which began in 1958 and was one of the most prestigious leagues until it was relaunched as the FIBA EuroLeague by FIBA in 2000.

13. Between 1991 and 2002, the number of players in the NBA increased from 78 to 120.

14. In 2001, Michael Jordan made a comeback with the Washington Wizards after his highly publicized exit from basketball back in 2003 which he explained as a need for a break from the game.

15. The first female professional basketball player in America was named Burt Granofsky and she played for the Springfield Sallies in the inaugural season of the ABL in 1939.