Monsterball: A Humber sport lost to history?

The unconventional game debuted at Humber on April Fool’s Day in 1969

By John Yolkowski on
Reading time:
A large group of people use their hands to hold up a large ball with a face painted on it in a black and white photo.

Humber Archives has mounted a display in the North Library dedicated to exploring sports and sporting events from Humber’s past. Humber has a long and illustrious history of varied sporting teams and events such as hockey, equestrian pursuits and more. However, the research turned up one sporting event from Humber’s past that is particularly interesting - Monsterball.

The sport, which debuted at Humber on April Fool’s Day in 1969, involved a colourful inflatable ball that was six feet in diameter with a large face painted on it. Teams of 50 or more students played in a game with, as far as the Archives can determine, very relaxed rules. The teams tended to represent a campus (North and Lakeshore) and the aim was to get the large six-foot ball across each other team’s goal line.  

Humber’s then-Director of Athletics, Harry Pasternak, thought it might catch on as a college sport throughout Ontario. That may not have happened, but the history of Monsterball lives on in articles such as this one in the Archives.

A newspaper article with a headline that reads ‘There are no rules in madcap monsterball.'

Those interested in learning more about sports that used to be played at Humber can visit the Archives’ display cases at the North Campus Library over January 2024.