Handball

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Hinder: a word that changed meaning

1889-2025 · American four-wall, One-wall (small and big ball), Irish 60x30 (hardball and softball)

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In 1889 and 1893 a 'hinder' was a ball that hit a player: 'a hinder is when a ball strikes your opponent' (Deshong), replayed; getting in an opponent's way was something else, punished by an ace or hand out. The Irish rules of the same years used the word for both: a ball striking the opponent, and obstruction, which 'the judge may give a hinder' for. Brokaw's 1915 one-wall rules and the Sun's 1916 column still say a hinder is 'a returning ball that strikes an opposition player'. The A.A.U.'s 1920 text turned it round: a hinder became unintentional interference with an opponent's chance to play, replayed, with a separate 'covered ball' for blocked sight (dropped in 1922, H-81) and an intentional hinder costing a point. The USHA's 'dead-ball hinder' and 'avoidable hinder' are the 1920 pair renamed, and the USWA's 'block' and 'screen' are the same ideas in park language. Whether the obstruction sense came from the Irish rules (H-80) is open.

The take

The glossary cannot give 'hinder' one definition and be honest: it has at least three dated senses, and the modern one is the youngest (1920). This is the clearest case for the site's 'as of' glossary: a 1916 reader and a 2025 reader mean different things by the same rule word.

Moments in order

12 moments. Each shows its status in words and its source.

  1. 17 March 1889 · Documented

    Sun code R10: 'If a ball struck by the player strikes the striker or his partner, it is a hinder, and it shall be played over again.' R14: an opponent who jostles or gets in the way intentionally gives an ace or a hand out: no word for it.

    Source: The Sun (New York), 17 March 1889, p. 7

  2. 1893 · Documented

    Deshong R4-R5: 'A hinder is when a ball strikes your opponent' and stops it reaching the wall; hinders are mostly 'accidents pure and simple'; an intentional hinder is an ace against or a hand out at the referee's opinion; effect of an ordinary hinder unstated (Rules and Explanations (1893)).

    Source: Maurice W. Deshong, The Game of Hand Ball and How to Play It (1893), p. 12

    Read the rulebook: Rules and Explanations

  3. 1903 · Documented

    Ireland, Gaelic Rules (1903) R21 and R24: a struck ball that afterwards strikes the opponent is a hinder, played over; and 'Should a player obstruct another in such a manner that he cannot play, the judge may give a hinder' (wilful: ace or hand out). Both senses in one text (H-80).

    Source: Michael Egan, Handball and How to Play It (1903), p. 33

  4. by 1903 · Documented

    A.A.U. 1903 R6: the hinder narrowed to a ball striking the server before reaching the opponent, or the opponent during service; a served ball hitting the receiver becomes a hinder instead of an ace (reversed from 1893); each player 'must give way and in no way interfere'; the scorer judges hinders (Revised Handball Rules of the Amateur Athletic Union of America, For the Government of the National Championship in Singles (1903)).

    Source: Michael Egan, Handball and How to Play It (1903), p. 41

    Read the rulebook: Revised Handball Rules of the Amateur Athletic Union of America, For the Government of the National Championship in Singles

  5. 1915-1916 · Documented

    Brokaw: a hinder is a ball that hits an opponent (Rules of American Hand Ball (1916)); the Sun's 1916 column: 'A returning ball that strikes an opposition player' (1916 newspaper notes).

    Source: James I. Brokaw, How to Play American Hand Ball (1915), pp. 39-43

    Read the rulebook: Rules of American Hand Ball

  6. 1 January 1920 · Documented

    The turn: A.A.U. four-wall R20-R25: a player has the right to an unobstructed opportunity; unintentional interference is a hinder, played over; 'if a player is prevented by an adversary from seeing the ball until too late ... it is called a covered ball and shall be played over'; an intentional hinder costs a point; the referee decides all hinders and covered balls without appeal; no hinder from one's own partner (Hand Ball (1920)). A ball that hits a player but still reaches the front wall is in play (R17).

    Source: Amateur Athletic Union, official athletic rules (Library of Congress digitised volume, 1920)

    Read the rulebook: Hand Ball

  7. 1 January 1922 · Documented

    The covered-ball definition and three of its uses are deleted; R24 keeps 'hinders and covered balls' as an orphan (Official Handball Rules of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (1923); H-64, H-81: 'covered ball' is the ancestor of the screen).

    Source: Robert L. Ripley (ed.), Spalding's Official Handball Guide (1923), p. 69

    Read the rulebook: Official Handball Rules of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States

  8. 20 November 1922 · Documented

    A.A.U. one-wall R21-R25 take the four-wall hinder rules almost verbatim (A.A.U. One-Wall Rules (1922); H-62: R24 = 4W R21 at ratio 1.00).

    Source: Robert L. Ripley (ed.), Spalding's Official Handball Guide (1923), p. 75

    Read the rulebook: A.A.U. One-Wall Rules

  9. 26 January 2025 · Documented

    USHA 4.7 'dead-ball hinders' (replayed: court hinders, hitting an opponent when the shot would have reached the wall, body contact, screen ball, back-swing, safety holdup) and 4.8 'avoidable hinders' (point or side out: failure to move, blocking, moving into the ball, pushing, intentional distraction); the referee's call, players may call only back-swing and safety (Four-Wall Rulebook (2025)).

    Source: US Handball Association, "Four-Wall Rulebook" (seen 28 October 2026)

  10. 2018-2026 · Documented

    USWA: 'block' (interference, replayed) and 'screen' (ball passing too close to the hitter's body) do the work of the USHA's two hinders without the word (from a comparison of the USWA and USHA rules).

    Source: United States Wall Ball Association, "Wall Ball Rules" (Wayback snapshot of 11 April 2021). Also: United States Wall Ball Association, "USWA OFFICIAL RULES" (Wayback snapshot of 8 August 2020); United States Wall Ball Association, "Rules & Conduct" (seen 27 October 2026)

  11. 20 June 1990 to 14 October 1994 · Documented

    The USHA's 1990 four-wall rules with interpretations and its 1994 one-wall rules (The Official United States Handball Association Handball Rules With Interpretations and One-Wall and Three-Wall Addendum Revised 1991 (1990), The New and Official United States Handball Association One-Wall Rules With Interpretations 1995 (1994)) already use 'avoidable hinder' and 'dead-ball hinder': the renaming of the 1920 pair is older than 1990; the 1923-1989 texts that would date it are not held.

    Source: Colorado Handball Association, "The Official United States Handball Association Handball Rules" (Wayback snapshot of 19 May 1998). Also: US Handball Association, "Current Rules" (Wayback snapshot of 31 January 1997)

    Read the rulebooks: The Official United States Handball Association Handball Rules With Interpretations and One-Wall and Three-Wall Addendum Revised 1991; The New and Official United States Handball Association One-Wall Rules With Interpretations 1995

  12. 14 October 1994 · Documented

    The serving-side hinder fault enters the record in the USHA's one-wall rules of 14 October 1994 (The New and Official United States Handball Association One-Wall Rules With Interpretations 1995 (1994)); it reaches the Council by January 2009, the USWA by 2018 and the GAA by 2019, and the GAA altered it in 2020 and the USWA in 2026.

    Source: US Handball Association, "Current Rules" (Wayback snapshot of 31 January 1997). Also: Wexford GAA Handball, "Playing Rules" PDF (uploaded August 2016) (seen 28 October 2026); GAA Handball Playing Rules: 1-Wall (Wexford GAA copy) (seen 28 October 2026); United States Wall Ball Association, "Rules & Conduct" (seen 27 October 2026)

    Read the rulebook: The New and Official United States Handball Association One-Wall Rules With Interpretations 1995

What the sources do not show

  • Whether the 1920 drafters took the obstruction sense from the Irish rules (H-80) or from the Y.M.C.A. rules (H-83): the A.A.U. minutes are not found, and the Y.M.C.A. four-wall text of 1915 (Hand Ball Rules: Four Wall Court (1915)) has not yet been read for its hinder.
  • 'Covered ball' outside the 1920-21 handbooks: no other text uses it; its relation to 'screen' (H-81) is inference.
  • The period 1931-1989: 'avoidable' and 'dead-ball' are in the USHA texts of 1990 and 1994, so the renaming is older than 1990; no text between O'Connell 1931 and 1990 is held to date it.
  • The Irish 'hinder' between 1903 and 2009: no IHC text before the January 2009 booklet, which is research-only and not crosswalked.
  • Brokaw's hinder is read from the proofed transcription and one newspaper column; whether playground usage matched is unknown.

Eras this thread crosses

Rulebooks cited here

Sources