Tiddly (sport)

Tiddly is a traditional sport played on the Island of Newfoundland invented in the early 1900s. The World Cup of Tiddly tournament is typically played on the first Sunday of August at the Carbonear Recreation Complex in Carbonear, Newfoundland. Since 2008 both Men and Women compete for the Men's and Women's Tiddly World Cup.

## Characteristics

### Equipment

* Large Stick
* Small Stick
* Bricks
* Gloves

## Rules and gameplay

**CARBONEAR WORLD CUP OF TIDDLY RULES – 2021 Basic Rules:**

• Played on the Sunday of Carbonear Days weekend.

• A team consists of 5 or 6 players. [If an extra player needs to be added, only 6 can be in the outfield]

• Fields are marked off in 60’ widths.

• Teams are Men’s, Women’s – 16 years and over.

• Team Name must reference a Carbonear site, event or relate to Carbonear History

• Equipment: Gloves are allowed but no jackets can be used for catching. OTHER SAFETY EQUIPMENT SUCH AS GLASSES & HELMETS RECOMMENDED.

• Three 30 minute games will be played by each team. Once the foghorn sounds all play stops and no further scores are counted. However, if a stick has landed on the ground in the Bat Off or Tiddly, the referee will count the stick lengths for the score

• Scoring: There are 2 points for a win and 1 point for a tie. The two top scoring teams will advance to the Championship Game. If there are two teams with the same score and they played each other, the winner of that game will be considered the winner of the tie. If they did not play each other, the winner of the tie will be based on overall points scored in the three games.

• Teams will be matched by draws

• Long sticks will be 3 feet, short sticks will be 1 foot. 2 Sets of sticks will be placed at each set of bricks by the referees and both teams playing at that set of bricks will use these sets.

• Both the Men’s and Women’s teams will play “The Tiddly” the traditional way.

• Once the batting order is set, it cannot be changed. Batting out of order will cause the player to be ‘out’. Referees will also keep track of the batting order on their scoresheets.

• Three ‘outs’ and a team is out.

• Once a player has had a turn at the Hook Off, Bat Off and the Tiddly (without getting out), the next player on the team has a turn. This is not the normal rule for Tiddly (where the player continues the rotation until he is out) but is done in the interest of allowing each team member a turn during the game.

• Sticks must remain within bounds (which will be marked) or the player will be judged ‘out’. A stick that falls on the line is considered “in”. Sticks that hit the ground and bounce out are considered out. If a player has contact with the stick before it goes out-of-bounds, it is considered “in”.

• When defending your bricks in the “Bat Off”, you cannot block the view of the bricks from the ‘thrower’. Also, the ‘thrower’ can only throw from where the stick lands. Sticks that land behind the bricks can be counted as long as they are at least one stick length away [inside the track- maximum of 3 points.]

• The Championships Games will be set for 30 minutes. However, each team has to have the same number of ‘innings’ which could cause these games to run a little longer. Both the Men’s and Women’s games will be played at the same time in separate sections of the field.

**How the Game is Played:**

**1.** Determine which team is first ‘in’ and which is in the outfield. Each team selects a captain. Each captain tosses the long stick back and forth to each other 3 times. The last one to catch it tries to catch it close to the top so that the other captain does not have room to fit his hand above the hand holding the stick. They go hand over hand to the top and the one closest to the top (at least 3 fingers) gets to be first “in”.

**2.** The Hook Off The player lays the short stick across the bricks (which are approximately 6 inches apart) and with the long sticks hooks the short stick off, sending it into the outfield.

• If it is caught, the player is out.

• If it is not caught, it must be picked up and thrown (from where it landed) at the long stick that the player has placed on the bricks.

• If the short stick knocks the long stick off the bricks, the player is out.

• If the short stick does not knock the long stick completely off the bricks, the player proceeds on to the Bat Off. [Note: There is no scoring in the Hook Off] [No Golf Swings are allowed. If a Golf swing is used, the player gets one chance to do over. A 2nd time using a Golf swing, the player is “out”.]

**3.** The Bat Off The player stands at the bricks (not touching them) and has the option of tossing the short stick up or holding the short stick – and hits it into the outfield with the long stick.

• If it is caught, the player is out.

• If the short stick breaks, do over again.

• If it is not caught, it is thrown from where it lands to the bricks. The player at the bricks holds the long stick diagonally in front of the bricks – not touching them – and tries to bat the short stick that is thrown in from the outfield. [This player can stand several feet in front of the bricks to the side if the stick has to be thrown in a considerable distance from the outfield.]

• If the short stick hits the bricks, the player is out.

• If it lands less than a long stick length away from the bricks, the batter is out.

• If it lands more than a long stick length away from the bricks or the batter successfully bats out the short stick, the team at bat can score as long as the short stick lands at least one long stick away from the bricks. The field is measured in 9’ increments and the referees will determine the score based on the field markings (from the straight). Referees should go to where the stick lands to calculate the score.

• Referees will also call out the score.

• If the batter successfully batted out the short stick and it was caught in the outfield, the batter is out.

**4.** The Tiddly The short stick is placed upright against one of the bricks so that the top of the stick is above the bricks. Hit the short stick so that it spins up in the air away from the bricks and then hit it in the air into the outfield.

• If it is caught, the player is out.

• If it is not caught, you score a point for every long stick length you are from the bricks – counting from the middle of the long stick to the middle of the bricks. You get 3 chances to do the Tiddly. However, if you make contact with the stick in the air, you do not get any further chances. Next Player has a turn. FOR ANY CONTROVERSIAL CALLS, HE CHIEF REFEREE, CARL OATES MAKES THE FINAL DECISION.