First Ringette Rules 1963

First Ringette Rules and Evaluation During 1963 to 1965.

Webmaster's Notes: I was given two typewritten pages back in 1970's while conducting a coach's clinic. It created a desire to research the rules of the game. I believe the first page to be an authentic reproduction of the rules contained on one page; and the second page - the evaluation by Red McCarthy Director of Recreations of Espanola, Ontario. I have been able neither to prove nor discredit that these two pages are in fact authentic.

However, as you read the History of the the first complete set of rules in a rule book form, drawn up by the Northern Directors of Municipal Recreation on May 31, 1965, for the 1965/66 season, you may be drawn towards the same conclusion as I, that these are indeed the first written rules and an evaluation by Mr McCarthy's experimentation with his girls High School Hockey Team in Espanola in Northern Ontario. The History section of the rule book clearly establishes the direction given to Mr McCarthy by Northern Directors. I have been very careful to type the pages here in this Web page as closely as possible as they are on the two typed pages. You will note two odd things. One, even though these rules were written for girls the use of the masculine gender was predominant in the experimental rules, while in the Rule Book itself it was very carefully made gender free till the very last page where a "she" shows up in Team Penalty Regulations. The other odd thing is that hockey terms such as puck and face-offs are used extensively.

After the First Rules and Evaluation in 1963, many Northern Communities experimented with these first rules during the 1964/65 season, which allowed the Northern Ontario Directors of Municipal Recreation to have enough data to draw up the first set of complete rules on May 31, 1965 in Trout Creek, Ont.

With the kind permission of Ringette Canada I have scanned and printed here the 1965/66 Rule Book. It is indeed authentic and I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the first formal Rule Book for Ringette. It is interesting to note that in this first rule book, the rules had expanded from one typewritten page to a book of eight pages containing 5 pages of actual playing rules and 3 of explanations and observations. Today's rule book for the seasons 1999 to 2002 contains 47 pages of playing rules and 37 pages of explanations, clarifications and information. It is an 84 page document.

RULES
1963
(Experimented with During 1964/1965)

RINGETTE RULES
Equipment	-	Floor hockey or deck tennis ring.
	-	Sticks may be broom handles or hockey stick handles. Sharp points not allowed on sticks.
	-	Goaltenders may use hockey goal sticks. Other goal equipment is optional.
	-	Players may use any regulation hockey equipment except sticks.
Playing Surface - Regulation hockey goals.
Goals - Regulation hockey surface and markings.
Playing rules - C.A.H.A. Hockey Rules apply except for the following 2 changes;
	-	Body checking is not allowed and is penalized by a minor penalty.
	-	Infractions such as HIGH STICKING, SPEARING, HOOKING, BUTT-ENDING, and BOARDING must be enforced strictly.
	-	Position of players - A team may not have more than three players in their own defensive zone, one of which must be the goaltender. The remaining two are classed as defense- men. No more than three players may be in the attacking zone from one team. These are called forwards. A team guilty of too many or wrong players in the defending or attacking zones will be penalized with a minor penalty to be served by the player or players causing the infraction. (To assist the officials forwards should wear green ribbons and defencemen red ribbons on their sleeves. A forward may interchange with a defenceman providing he changes ribbons and change must take place during stoppage of play. N.B. Should a defenseman be penalized and another defenceman sent out to kill off the penalty then the penalize defenceman either has to put on a green ribbon or be substituted by a forward as soon as his penalty is up.)
	-	Off-Sides - Off-sides in the hockey sense will not be called. But no player may carry the ring from one zone to another. The ring must change from one player to another in going from zone to zone. This infraction is penalized with a stoppage of play and face-off takes place five feet from the blueline in zone where play originated. (This rule is applied to encourage pass- ing of the ring as it is difficult to check good stickhandlers)
		Stick Checking - The puck carrier's stick may be lifted straight up 2 only if the checker approaches from the side or rear. A checker who approaches the puck carrier face to face must not lift the stick straight up but must move the stick parallel to the ice. (This is to avoid spearing and possible serious injury.) Penalty - Minor Penalty.

RULES AND GAME EVALUATION
1963
(Experimented with During 1964/1965)

Report on New Winter Game for Girls
Suggested Name - Ringette
Players -	Girls from the Espanola High School hockey team were used to experiment with this game. These girls had been practising with their hockey team for a short time and had some knowledge of the game of hockey. To explain the game a "Herbie Carnegie Strategy Board" was used in the dressing room and this saved valuable time on the ice. After each session the girls criticized and offered suggestions to help improve the game. Before the next practice we went over rule changes.
Practice	Sessions - A regular hockey ice surface was used without changes in the markings. Each team consisted of a goaltender, two defencemen and three forwards. Equipment used was a red rubber deck tennis ring and hockey sticks minus blades. Regular hockey rules applied except that forwards could not go into their defensive zone and defensive men could not go into the offensive sone. Off-sides were called only at the red line at center ice. Because of the difficulty of checking the puck carrier a rule was added whereby a player could not carry the puck from one zone to another. And to open the game up even more the offside at the red line was eliminated. Goaltenders had difficulty stopping the ring so regular goal sticks were added. In regards to the roughness of the game we found that this was not a problem, but of course I don't know what would happen if the game became highly competitive.
Evaluation	- The girls stated that they enjoyed this game better than hockey because they could manipulate the ring better than the hockey puck. Criticism of this was that is was difficult to check. This was the reason for making them pass from zone to zone. My own conclusions were that the girls enjoyed this game much better than hockey and in time would become very proficient at it.

RULES
1965/66

Ringette Canada, as the present copyright holder, has graciously allowed us to reprint the Original Rules.

This Page Last revised: 16 July, 2001