Productions Designer -- John Box
Track Architect -- Herbert Schurmann (Olympic Track Architect for Rome, Mexico and Munich)
Skating Consultant for Track Design -- Peter Hicks
TRACK SPECIFICATIONS
(CIRCULAR TRACK):
Top circular dimensions
-- banked area:
Circumference -- 547 feet (167.863 metres)
Diameter -- 175 feet (53.426 metres)
Lower circular
dimensions -- banked area:
Circumference -- 312 feet (96.113 metres)
Banked Surface
-- track area:
Width -- 40 feet
(12.30 metres)
Flat surface --
track area:
Width -- 19 feet
8 inches (6 metres)
Infield area:
Circumference -- 190 feet (58.434 metres)
Top of bank from
flat floor level:
Height -- 12 feet
2 inches (3.71 metres)
Degree of banked
track:
18°
Two doors -- built
into banked area of track:
Outside dimensions
of doors when closed
--Length: 22 feet
(7 metres)
--Width at top: 7
feet (2.20 mtres)
--Width at bottom:
6 feet (1.90 metres)
Size of opening when
doors are open
--Height: 6 feet
6 inches (2 metres)
--Width: 6 feet 0
inches (1.90 metres)
Pneumatically operated.
(Open to let players and game personnel in -- closed during game).
The track area --
both the flat and banked portion -- have a smooth wood surface.
Surround the top
of the track there is a 3-foot-high 6 inches thick steel barrier. Attached
to the barier [sic ] is a 2-inch steel hand-rail covered with rubber.
Surrounding the track
on the top of this steel barrier is a 4 feet 4 inches high steel mesh fence.
Surrounding the bottom
of the track there is a 3 feet high 6 inches thick steel barier [sic ] with
3 feet wide player entrances at opposite ends of the Infield.
A 6-inch gutter surrounds
the bottom of the track. If the ball goes into the gutter, it is a 'dead'
ball.
Each team comprises
seven (7) Skaters, plus three (3) Motor-cyclists. There are eight (8) Substitutes
on each team. These Substitutes, players and motor-cyclists, are positioned
in the Infield area during play until called into action.
Players -- each
team:
Skaters -- 5 players
(Combination Offensive & Defensive)
Skaters -- 2 ball
catchers
Motor-cyclists --
3
[total ] -- 10
Skaters -- 5 Substitutes
Motor-cyclists --
3 Substitutes
[total ] -- 18
Infield -- each
team:
Team Executive --
1
Team Coach -- 1
Team Trainer -- 1
First aid men --
2
Motor-cycle mechanics
-- 2
Uniform &
equipment:
1. Studded motor-cycle
helmet with face guard
2. Cotton jerseys
with team numbers
3. Ice hockey shoulder
pads
4. Leather pants
5. Adapted baseball
catcher shin guards
6. Motor-cycle boots
for Motor-cycle drivers
7. Skate boots for
skaters
8. Spiked leather
gloves
9. Ball Catchers
used adapted ice hockey goal-keepers glove.
10. Various protection
pads: elbow, back, knee, etc.
Motor-cycles:
Each team has three
motor-cycles in play and three substitutute [sic ] motor-cycles. The motor-cycles
used are Honda CB 125's, which have been specially adapted by the addition
of steel protection pads on the front and sides, plus a steel towing-bar at
the back, which the skaters hold when being towed.
The cycles travel
counter-clockwise when in play. They are capable of very high speeds and during
a game can reach a speed of up to 50 miles per hour.
Cannon:
Pneumatic powered
(compressed air)
P.S.I. (Pounds per
square inch) available -- 600
Maximum power ever
used -- 400 P.S.I.
Firing velocity --
0 to 135 miles per hour
Cannon fired by computer
from Controller's Bubble
Ball:
3 ½"
Diameter
Weight -- 21 lbs.
Made of solid resin
core with an outer steel skin.
The ball is fired
from the cannon clockwise around the track.
Method of Firing
-- cannon and ball:
The cannon is positioned
on top of banked area of track, which opens up mechanically to fire, then
closes. The firing of the cannon has been worked out by a computer which has
been programmed. Only the computer and the Controller know when the cannon
will fire. Only one ball is in play at a time. If it is not picked up and
reaches the gutter around the inner barrier (Infield), the ball is 'dead'
and a blue light flashes signaling the fact. If a player drops the ball and
it rolls down into the gutter or reaches the gutter for any reason whatsoever,
the ball is also 'dead', or out of play.
(1) Game Controller:
The Game Controller is stationed high in the centre of the Infield, in a glass-enclosed
revolving bubble, from which he can see the whole game laid out before him.
He is seated in a mechanically-swivelled chair within the bubble; a small
computer console built into the chair arms shows the speed and velocity at
which the cannon will fire the ball. The Controller operates the signal light
tower which hangs from the arena roof over the bubble in full view of the
spectators and players.
Yellow
flashing lights indicate -- Cannon has fired, ball in play.
Blue
flashing lights indicate -- 'Dead' ball
Red
flashing lights indicate -- Goal scored
Green
flashing lights indicate -- A penalty has been called
(2) Game Referees:
Inside the Infield
are two Game Referees, each with his own elevated station, from which he supervises
one-half of the track. The Game Referees are audio-connected to the main Controller,
and their chief function is to call penalties and enforce the rules of the
game.
(3) Team Executive:
The Team Executive
is the General Manager of the team, and is responsible for all the operations
of the team on and off the track.
(4) Team Coach:
The Team Coach is
second-in-command to the Team Executive and assists him in all team operations.
(5) Team Trainer:
The Team Trainer
is responsible for the physical fitness of the team players and the maintenance
of the team equipment.
(6) Team First Aid:
First aid personnel
are positioned in the Infield area. They are equipped with portable first
aid equipment and stretchers. They deal with the injured, getting them as
quickly as possible off the track. Those players seriously injured are placed
in the elevators (lefts) which take them below the stadium for expert medical
attention.
(7) Motor Cycle Mechanics:
These are similar
to the First Aid teams. They deal with motor-cycles in the same way as the
First Aid personnel deal with the players.
The two magnetic
goals are positioned on top of the banked track area above the steel barrier.
The goals are mounted into a glass back board 8 feet 4 inches wide and 4 feet
10 inches high. The goal is a cone-shaped opening in the back-board, 21 inches
in diameter.
SCORE BOARD:
There are two large
score boards positioned above the spectators behind each goal. The score boards
contains the following information:
Team Names
Players' Numbers
Goal Score
Period of Play
Time Clock
MULTIVISION CONTROL-BOOTH:
This is an Information
Centre located in a glass booth high above the spectators in the Stadium.
The game is completely recorded on Multivision screens from remote Multivision
cameras positioned in the stadium, and simultaneously transmitted to the Multivision
sets throughout the world. The Multivision Broadcasters watch and describe
the game from here.
SCORING:
The game is formulated
on the basic fact that the team picking up the ball has to get round [sic ]
the track with the ball and put it in the opposing team's goal within three
laps of the track.
A team gets one point
for every goal scored. When a goal is scored, the red lights flash, a klaxon
sounds, and the score board registers the point.
SCORING AREA:
Behind each goal
on the banked track is a 6-foot-wide red area in which a player must be in
order to make a try at scoring a goal. If the ball carries attempts to score
from outside this area, it is disallowed and a 'dead' ball is called.
(1) Play time --
three (3) periods, each of twenty (20) minutes.
After each period, there is a two-minute rest period. If the score is tied
after three periods, an overtime period is called and played until a team
scores.
(2) The skaters and
bikers can only move counter-clockwise around the track.
If a skater or biker is seen moving clockwise by the referee, a two-minute
penalty is called against the offender. The player is sent off the track and
cannot be replaced during the penalty period.
(3) After gaining
possession of the ball, the offensive team cannot try for a score until the
ball has traveled one revolution of the track. This revolution starts from
the point of pick-up by the ball catcher.
(4) In the event
that the offensive team ball carriers have been unable to try for a score
within three revolutions of the track, the ball is considered 'dead' and must
be guttered. A new ball is then fired from the cannon.
(5) The ball carrier
is not allowed to deliberately hide the ball from the defensive team. The
penalty for doing so is for the team to forfeit possession of the ball (the
ball must be guttered).
(6) No more than
ten (10) players per side can be on the track at any one time. Of the ten
players on each team, only five are allowed to score goals. The three motor-cyclists
cannot handle the ball. The two ball-catchers can only field the ball after
it is fired and pass it to one of the five skaters, who can pass it to one
another and attempt to score.
(7) No permanent
goalie or goal defender is allowed in the scoring area. Defensive and offensive
players can only be in the 6-foot-wide red scoring area when an offensive
ball carrier is making a try for a goal.
If the ball carrier passes the red scoring area, the defensive players who
are in the red scoring area must go after the ball carrier.
(8) The motor-cyclists
are not allowed in the top half of the red scoring area. If a biker is seen
in this area by the referee, a three-minute penalty is called against the
offender.
(9) A motor-cyclist
must not deliberately injure a skater. If he does so and is seen by the referee,
a five-minute penalty is called against the offender.
(10) A skater must
not deliberately injure a motor-cyclist. If he does so and is seen by the
referee, a five minute penalty is called against the offender.
(11) The ball must
not be used as an offensive weapon. Penalty: three minutes.
(12) The Infield
personnel of each team are required to remove from the track as soon as possible
injured players and damaged equipment.
(13) A defensive
player is allowed to intercept a ball being passes, or pick up the ball that
has been knocked out of the offensive ball carrier's glove and can try to
pass or score with the ball -- providing the ball is on the track and has
not reached the gutter.
(14) Each team may
substitute players as long as there are not more than seven skaters and three
motor-cyclists on the track at one time. This, however, does not apply to
players removed from the track for penalties (there is no substitution allowed.)
The teams in formation
on the track: the Controller fires the ball by acting on instructions from
the Game Computer. The teams are spread out in order that the two catchers
of each team can cover as much of the track as possible, while still being
protected by the other skaters and bikers.
Once the ball is
fired by the cannon, the teams pick up speed to be in a good fielding position
when the ball comes off the rail. Any of the two catchers on either team can
field the ball and move forward as fast as possible in order to pass the ball
to one of the offensive players; once the ball is held by an offensive player,
the balance of the team forms in order to allow the offensive carrier to move
once around the track (360¡), then
to try for a for a score in the opponents' goal.
[Note: I'm including
the final two paragraphs in the interest of completeness, but they are so
badly written they make no sense whatsoever in relation to the above rules.
-JP ]
The carrier has as
choice of trying to score or make another circuit of the track, in which case
the opposing defense must brake and make another circuit also.
The players on defense
move around the track circling with and against the offensive team, trying
to get possession of the ball. As the skaters move around the track, they
alternate positions in defending the goal. The motor-cyclists assist in defending
by towing skaters as on offensive play, and using their speed to move between
the patterns of the offensive team.