The rules of sport
The fundamental rules that shape how sports are played — explained simply and linked to the sports they belong to.
Browse rules
Each entry is cross-linked to the sports it belongs to and the terms around it.
Alpine race gates
In alpine ski racing the course is defined by pairs of poles, and a racer must pass through every gate to record a valid run.
Backcourt violation
A basketball rule breach for returning the ball into a team's own defensive half after it has crossed into the attacking half.
Badminton serve rules
The rules for how a badminton serve must be delivered and where it must land.
Ball in play and the walls
What counts as part of the court in padel and how the walls change a rally — which surfaces the ball may use, the order it must use them in, and the returns the rules explicitly permit.
Ball-handling faults
Volleyball faults for catching, carrying or double-contacting the ball rather than cleanly hitting it.
Continuous play and the time between points
What the ITF Rules say about pace of play — 25 seconds between points, 90 seconds at a changeover, 120 at a set break — and why tour rulebooks are a separate document.
Cricket creases
The white lines marked at each end of a cricket pitch — bowling, popping and return creases — what each one is for, and the exact measurements that decide no-balls, run-outs and stumpings.
Direct and indirect free kicks
The two types of free kick awarded in football to restart play after a foul or other stoppage.
Double dribble
A basketball violation for dribbling with two hands at once, or for dribbling again after picking up the ball.
Drafting rules
Rules that govern when a rider or athlete may sit in the slipstream of another to save energy.
False start
A rule breach in a race when a competitor begins to move before the starting signal is given.
Foot fault
A serving fault called when the server's foot touches the baseline or court before striking the ball.
Goaltending
A basketball violation for interfering with a shot while the ball is on its downward path to the basket or above the rim.
Handball offence
A foul in football committed when an outfield player deliberately handles or controls the ball with the hand or arm.
Hindrance, lets and permanent fixtures
What happens when something outside the rally interferes — the difference between a deliberate and unintentional hindrance, and the rule that a permanent fixture is never a hindrance.
How a batter is out in cricket
The lawful ways to dismiss a batter — bowled, caught, LBW, run out, stumped and the rarer modes — what separates them, and which ones a bowler is credited with.
How a point is lost in padel
The actions that end a padel rally — the second bounce, touching the net, direct contact with the opponent's enclosure, and the neutral-zone exception on the court doors.
How a point is won in table tennis
The full list of ways a player scores — the returns that fail, the ball through the net, the double hit, the free-hand touch, and the moving-table rule most players never meet.
Ice hockey penalties
How hockey punishes infractions by putting a player in the box — minor, double-minor, major, misconduct and game misconduct — and which ones end early when a goal is scored.
Icing
The rule that stops a team simply firing the puck the length of the ice — what triggers icing, what nullifies it, the goaltender exception, and the line-change penalty that follows.
Innings and overs
How a cricket match is structured — what an innings is, why an over is six balls, how the bowling end alternates, and which parts of the structure the Laws fix and which a competition sets.
Knock-on and forward pass
The rule that makes rugby a backwards-passing game — what counts as a knock-on, what makes a pass forward, and why the sanction is usually a scrum rather than a penalty.
Lane discipline
The rule that competitors must stay within their assigned lane in lane-based races.
Leg before wicket (LBW)
Cricket's most argued-about dismissal, set out as the Laws set it out: five conditions that must all be satisfied, and the one clause that changes everything if the batter played a shot.
Let
A call that stops a point and has it replayed without penalty, used across several racket sports.
No-ball
The illegal delivery in cricket — where the bowler's feet must land, what the Laws say about straightening the arm, and why a no-ball costs a run and has to be bowled again.
Off-side in ice hockey
The rule that stops attackers waiting in the attacking zone — where exactly the blue line is crossed, why skates and not sticks decide it, and what a delayed off-side means.
Offside
A rule that prevents an attacker from gaining an advantage by being positioned too close to the opponents' goal ahead of the ball and the last defenders.
Offside in rugby union
Rugby union's most context-dependent law — where the offside line sits in open play, what an offside player must not do, the 10-metre rule after a kick, and how a player is put onside.
Order of play
The convention that decides who plays next in a golf group — normally the player whose ball is furthest from the hole.
Out of bounds
The rule that a ball or player leaving the marked playing area is out of play and possession is decided at the boundary.
Out-of-court play in padel
The rule that lets a padel player leave the court to keep a rally alive — when it is authorised, what the court must provide for it, and why it depends on the safety area.
Penalty kick award
A one-on-one kick against the goalkeeper awarded when a defending player commits a direct-free-kick foul inside their own penalty area.
Penalty strokes in golf
Strokes added to a player’s score in defined situations, such as hitting out of bounds or losing a ball.
Personal fouls and free throws
The basketball rules covering illegal contact and the uncontested shots awarded when a player is fouled.
Piste difficulty grading
Ski areas grade marked runs by colour or symbol so riders can judge, before setting off, roughly how demanding a run will be.
Playing the ball as it lies
Golf’s founding principle: you play the course as you find it and the ball from wherever it comes to rest, unless a rule allows otherwise.
Shot clock
A timing rule that requires the attacking basketball team to attempt a shot within a set number of seconds.
Swimming stroke rules
The technical rules that define how each competitive swimming stroke must be performed and how walls are touched.
Tennis serving rules
The rules governing how a tennis point begins, including where the server stands and where the serve must land.
Test, ODI and T20 cricket compared
The three international formats of cricket side by side — innings structure, over limits and match length — and why almost everything that separates them is a competition rule rather than a Law.
The legal table tennis serve
The most-broken rule in table tennis, set out exactly — the open palm, the 16 cm toss, the no-hiding requirement, and what happens the first time an umpire is unsure.
The lineout
How rugby union restarts play after the ball goes into touch — where the lineout forms, how many players it may contain, the throw requirements, lifting, and the 10-metre offside line.
The maul
The contest for a ball held off the ground in rugby union — how a maul differs from a ruck, why that difference changes what players may legally do, and why it is a driving weapon.
The padel serve
Padel's underarm serve, set out exactly — the bounce before the strike, the waist-height limit, where the server's feet must be, and the wire-mesh fault that has no tennis equivalent.
The ruck
How a ruck forms in rugby union and what changes the moment it does — the offside line, the ban on handling, the requirement to join from behind, and how a ruck ends.
The scrum
Rugby union's eight-player set piece — the 3-4-1 formation, the referee's crouch-bind-set sequence, where the scrum-half must stand, the throw-in requirements, and how a scrum ends.
The tackle
What the Laws require of both players in a rugby union tackle — the height limit, the release obligations on the tackler, what the tackled player must do, and how the offside line is created.
Three-hit rule
The volleyball rule that a team may contact the ball at most three times before it must cross the net.
Throw-in
The method of restarting football when the ball fully crosses a side line, taken by throwing it back into play.
Touching the net
A net-play rule that penalises a player for contacting the net during a rally in net-divided sports.
Traveling
A basketball violation for moving illegally with the ball without dribbling it.
Two-bounce rule
A pickleball rule requiring both the serve and the return to bounce once before players may hit the ball out of the air.
Volleyball rotation
The rule that players rotate one position clockwise each time their team wins back the serve.
Wide ball
The delivery ruled too far from the batter to be hit — the exact test the umpire applies, the two situations that cancel a wide, and why a wide costs a run and must be bowled again.
Yellow and red cards
The disciplinary cards a football referee shows to caution or send off a player for misconduct.
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