OpenSourceSports

The world's most accessible, version-controlled collection of sports rules and regulations — open source, community-driven, and always up to date.

What Is This?

OpenSourceSports is a structured repository of sports rulebooks rendered as standalone HTML pages. Every file is self-contained, mobile-friendly, and works offline. Rules are kept current with the latest official governing body publications.

Official Sports — Rules from recognized governing bodies (NFL, FIFA, NBA, UFC, NHL, etc.), updated annually to reflect the latest rule changes.

Custom Sports — Community-created games organized into two tiers:

• Casual — Fun, loosely structured games (beer pong, thumb wrestling, hide & seek)
• Competitive — Structured sports with organized rulesets that aren't yet governed by an official body

Repository Structure

OpenSourceSports/
├── Official/
│   ├── Team Sports/
│   │   ├── Football/          → NFL_Official_Rulebook.html
│   │   ├── Soccer/            → FIFA_Laws_of_Game.html
│   │   ├── Hockey/            → NHL_Official_Rulebook.html
│   │   └── Basketball/        → NBA_Official_Rulebook.html (queued)
│   ├── Combat Sports/
│   │   ├── MMA/               → UFC_Unified_Rulebook.html
│   │   ├── Boxing/            → WBA_Official_Rulebook.html, WBC_Official_Rulebook.html
│   │   └── PowerSlap/         → PowerSlap_Official_Rulebook.html
│   ├── Racquet Sports/        → (queued)
│   └── Individual Sports/     → (queued)
│
├── Custom/
│   ├── Casual/                → Fun, loosely structured games
│   │   ├── party-games/       → beerpong/
│   │   ├── playground-games/  → hide-and-seek/
│   │   ├── mini-sports/       → thumb-wrestling/
│   │   └── ball-games/        → football-variants/end-zone-exchange/
│   └── Competitive/           → Structured but not officially regulated
│
├── assets/
│   ├── css/opensourcesports.css
│   └── images/dll-logo.png
│
├── .github/
│   ├── CODEOWNERS
│   ├── PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
│   └── ISSUE_TEMPLATE/
│
└── README.md

HTML File Format

Every rulebook follows a consistent 8-section structure with embedded metadata, a collapsible table of contents, and per-section navigation.

Required Sections

#	Section ID	Content
1	introduction	Sport overview, history, governing body
2	equipment	Required gear, specifications, standards
3	playing-area	Field/court/ring dimensions and markings
4	players-officials	Team sizes, positions, officials, roles
5	rules-of-play	Core gameplay rules and mechanics
6	scoring	Point systems, win conditions
7	violations-penalties	Fouls, infractions, consequences
8	safety-considerations	Player safety, equipment standards, protocols

Template

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>Sport - Official Rulebook</title>
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="[RELATIVE_PATH]/assets/css/opensourcesports.css">
</head>
<body>
  <!--
  METADATA
  {
    "sport": "Sport Name",
    "category": "Category",
    "type": "OFFICIAL",
    "governingBody": "Organization",
    "version": "2026.1",
    "lastUpdated": "2026-03-03",
    "author": "OpenSourceSports",
    "tags": ["tag1", "tag2"]
  }
  -->

  <header id="top">
    <h1>Sport Name - Official Rulebook</h1>
    <p class="governing-body">Governing Body: Organization</p>
    <p class="last-updated">Last Updated: March 03, 2026</p>
  </header>

  <nav class="oss-toc" id="toc">
    <details open>
      <summary>Table of Contents</summary>
      <ol>
        <li><a href="#introduction"><span class="toc-number">1.</span> Introduction</a></li>
        <!-- ... all 8 sections ... -->
      </ol>
    </details>
  </nav>

  <main>
    <section id="introduction">
      <h2>Section 1: Introduction</h2>
      <!-- Content -->
      <div class="oss-section-foot">
        <a href="#toc" class="oss-back-top">↑ Back to Contents</a>
      </div>
    </section>
    <!-- ... remaining sections ... -->
  </main>

  <footer>
    <!-- OpenSourceSports copyright + DLL branding -->
  </footer>
</body>
</html>

Metadata Comment Block

The METADATA JSON comment is required at the top of <body>. It powers automation, indexing, and validation.

Field	Required	Description
sport	Yes	Full sport name
category	Yes	Parent category (e.g., "Team Sports")
type	Yes	OFFICIAL or CUSTOM
governingBody	Yes	Organization abbreviation (or empty for custom)
version	Yes	YYYY.N for official, X.Y.Z for custom
lastUpdated	Yes	ISO date YYYY-MM-DD
author	Yes	OpenSourceSports or contributor name
tags	Yes	Array of searchable tags

Withdrawing a verification claim

For an Official rulebook whose verification is no longer supported, set last_verified_at explicitly to JSON null and supply a nonempty verification_withdrawn_reason. Record the evidence and previous verification date in that reason. Keep the source URL, source name, edition, rule content, and historical lastUpdated intact. A 403/429 or transient server error alone does not establish that a source is gone.

Omitting the field is not a withdrawal: the app preserves existing review dates and accepts legacy lastUpdated fallbacks. The app must support explicit-null withdrawal before these metadata changes are published and synced; otherwise an older parser can restore the date. Citation and section requirements still apply, and the confidence guard reports withdrawals visibly.

This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗