History

Danball was invented January 31, 1992, in the United States, just outside Anniston, Alabama, by a group of teenagers who attended Saks High School. The sport began as a chaotic exercise vaguely resembling road hockey. It was named in honour of Dan, a delivery driver for the Custom Pizza company, who'd brought pizza to the players a few hours before the invention of the game.

Much of Danball's early allure was the ironic and subtly self-mocking tone in which the players declared themselves "world champions" in the World Danball League (WDL), which consisted of only one team, the Anniston Cavaliers. Danball was at that time talked about far more often then it was played.

After most of the Saks group had left high school and gone on to various universities, some continued to play the game and shared it with new friends they met in college. In 1995, with the growing popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web, former Saks students at Jacksonville State University and Auburn University created a Web page for the WDL. The page contained the first set of codified rules for Danball, and contact information for some of the game's creators.

To the players' surprise, the then-fledgling Web directory Yahoo! included a Danball section in its sports category, and listed the WDL's home page. Soon, the players had been contacted by people from across the United States and around the world who'd seen the WDL Web page and decided to try the game. Teams and leagues reportedly were formed in several towns in the U.S., as well as Belgium and New Zealand.

Through 1996 and 1997, most Danball activity remained centred in Jacksonville, Alabama, a few miles from the game's birthplace. A 7-team league of Jacksonville State students staged several tournaments. After one of the game's inventors and major proponents left Jacksonville, interest waned and Danball's presence on the Web began to decline.

In November, 2001, Andrew Ferguson of Melbourne, Australia, found the rules for Danball on the Web and formed several teams in that city. After modifying the rules, Ferguson's group changed the name of their game to Suburbanball, and dubbed their league the World Suburbanball League.

Known Teams in the History of Danball

The following teams and sub-leagues are known to have organised and played under the World Danball League. Most have since ceased playing. Suburbanball teams are not included.