g the rules, Naismith's physical education class of eighteen students was split up into two teams of nine and started playing. The game went on for a while with no score until William R. Chase made a shot from the middle of the gymnasium and the game ended with a 1-0 score. The students loved the new game, so Naismith asked them to help him name it. The first suggestion was "Naismith ball" but this was quickly rejected by Naismith. Then a student named Frank Mahon suggested the name "Basket ball" which has stuck ever since.News of the new game spread quickly. Naismith quickly received many letters from various groups and associations asking for the rules of basketball. Due to the number of letters received Naismith published the rules in the Springfield YMCA newspaper the Triangle. The game quickly spread to other YMCAs all over the country. Soon crowds started showing up to watch basketball in Naismith's classes. So on February 12, 1892 Naismith staged a boys basketball game for the public which drew over one-hundred spectators. The game ended in a 2-2 tie. The local newspaper the Springfield Daily Republican wrote that "The game is a very pretty to watch." This lead to another public game being played on March 12, 1892 which featured the Springfield YMCA faculty against the students. The students won 5-1, but more importantly the game drew over two-hundred spectators. Naismith then took some of his students on an exhibition tour through New York and Rhode Island to promote the new game. Then the Brooklyn YMCA began playing basketball against other YMCA branches in New York City. The spreading of basketball was not limited to the U.S. however, basketball spread to France in 1893, Great Britian, China, Australia and India in 1894 and Japan in 1900. Basketball rules were very different back then in comparison with modern rules. In the beginning, basketball varied as to where the game was being played. Team sizes vari...
