Created in 2007 by the entrepreneur Marcus Garland, Unicycle Football is a truly unique sport with audacious rules, game play and a specific set of skills.
Reggae singer Carlton Pride, who played college and pro ball in the NFL and CFL also helped write the rules.
Garland and other first-generation unicycle football players honed their skills at an abandoned San Marcos gas station before moving to a church parking lot then a farmers’ market.
The sport is surprisingly fast-paced, not to mention how athletic and coordinated the players need to be. The ability to casually toss, catch and pop long range passes and receive them, all from atop their unicycles.
Similar to ‘flag football’ which is the traditional American Football game adapted to be non-contact as you grab ‘flags’ much like Britain’s ‘Tag Rugby’.
But of course in the Unicycle Football League you are also on the one-wheeled equipment.
Naturally in any form of American Football game there’s always the risk of getting hurt, but it’s even riskier when you’re balancing on one wheel whilst punting.
To keep injury risks at bay there is no spearing allowed, which means you can’t take the decidedly unsportsmanlike action of plowing into someone with your head.
The UFL now boasts six teams, each of which plays a 10-game August-to-April schedule, and has attracted ten local sponsors, including two Austin-area bike shops.
The league has a permanent home at the San Marcos Activity Centre and the public relations director says that games now attract on average between 100 and 200 spectators.
To view highlights of Unicycle Football view the link below provided by thedailytexan.
The Rules
The rules are fairly straightforward if you are accustoming to American Football.
There are four quarters to a game, six points for a touchdown and other similar NFL basics.
But some rules are more specific: There are only five players per team, due to the size of the pitches most commonly in the form of car parks.
Plays can only be made while you’re on your unicycle although you can dismount for any reason while you’ve got the ball and you’re down.
The best rule by far is that the traditional coin toss is replaced by a joust on unicycles.
The Joust
A player from each team uses the “multipurpose-use UFL stick” to joust.
If the “multipurpose-use UFL stick” is dropped during the joust, the joust continues until a rider is dismounted from their unicycle.
The winner of the joust chooses whether their team kicks or receives the ball in the initial kick-off of the game.
If a player strikes the opponent in the face with the multipurpose-use UFL stick, they lose the joust and there will be a 15-yard penalty to the team in violation after the Kick-off.
Safety Requirements
Bike helmets are required during game play.
No spearing, this means no plowing your head into an opponent.
A person with the ball may be tackled by removing their flags during play. A player may also be tackled by a technique referred too as, “the least amount of force required to cause the ball handler to dismount their unicycle.”
If a player jumps vertical off their unicycle, it is illegal to make contact other than a flag pull if the player is in the air.
