Template talk:Infobox sport

Needs documentation!
How about some actual documentation? It is entirely unclear what many of these fields are for. —  SMcCandlish  &#91;talk&#93; &#91;cont&#93; ‹(-¿-)› 23:34, 1 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I have documented this as best as I can, but at least three fields have no explanation and no apparent purpose at all. —  SMcCandlish  &#91;talk&#93; &#91;cont&#93; ‹(-¿-)› 23:52, 2 June 2009 (UTC)


 * I've done a little more work on this. Cheers for starting it. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 08:22, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Extra variable
I propose adding a variable like "players" to distinguish between the allowed size of a squad and the number of players on the field of play. I think most sports have this distinction, similar to rugby union where the squad size is 22, but only 15 players are allowed on the pitch.

For sports like doubles tennis where these numbers are always the same, only one needs to be mentioned of course.
 * I would suggest that the current "team" variable represents the squad size/"team members,
 * and the new "players" variable would represent the number of people allowed to participate at any given time.

Sahmejil (talk) 09:42, 5 August 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't think the squad size is important enough to include in the infobox; It's an organisational detail, and in sports like association football it can vary significantly depending on the level of competition et cetera. That said, if it's considered important enough to include for particular sports then the attribute can just be overloaded with both, such as  . Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 12:01, 5 August 2009 (UTC)


 * I have to concur with Chris Cunningham. Max. number of players per team is a highly variable bit of trivia, that is not of particular interest or importance to readers. —  SMcCandlish  &#91;talk&#93; &#91;cont&#93;  ‹(-¿-)› 17:52, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Origins / first played
How about adding an origins field to the infobox? Several sports currently stack the first played field with what that sport developed from in addition to when the first game of that sport is recorded as being played. Stacking the information means it can all be in there but the title it is under, "first played", isn't as appropriate as it could be. Any thoughts?  LunarLander  //  talk  // 13:51, 10 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Infobox templates are really meant for comparative, at-a-glance data: they're not substitutes for the article lede. I don't feel that this detail fits that criterion. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 11:53, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Alt text
Can some one modify the template to allow for the inclusion of alt text for the image? :) --LauraHale (talk) 02:31, 27 March 2011 (UTC)
 * That was included automatically when the template was rewritten to use a Lua module for the image. I've updated the documentation to include it. The only problem now is that the example for the caption is completely unsuitable - a caption shouldn't be describing what you can see in the image (that's the job of the alt text). I'll fix that now. --RexxS (talk) 12:26, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

Mixed gender criteria
Could someone more familiar with consensus write a more specific documentation on the 'Mixed Gender' parameter please? It is unclear what exactly is meant. Which, if any, of the following are described as mixed gender for the purpose of this infobox: --86.44.65.196 (talk) 03:47, 19 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Sport played by both genders, though there is a separate governing body for each
 * Sport played by both genders, but in distinct categories run concurrently at the same event
 * Sport played by both genders, but in distinct categories run sequentially at the same event
 * Sport played by both genders, but at separate events
 * Sport played by both genders at casual/amateur/grassroots level, but not sanctioned at a higher level for one
 * Any or all of the above taking place at different levels of the sport

Please more help..."Mixed gender criteria"

 * We really need more help here.
 * What does mixed-gender sport mean?
 * Perhaps it's a result of watching some "mixed" competitions of the 2020 Tokyo games and seeing some articles about these events, viz.:
 * 31 July 2021 NYTimes: The Rise of Mixed-Gender Relays at the Tokyo Olympics
 * 31 July 2021 Sports Illustrated: Wave of Mixed Team Sports Shows Growing Olympics Trend
 * July 2019 posting from team USA: 9 NEW MIXED-GENDER EVENTS IN TOKYO REPRESENT MORE OLYMPIC MEDAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR TEAM USA


 * Perhaps I am/we are over thinking this and reading more into the mgender field than was intended when it was introduced to the template on 31 May 2007 (anyone know how to make that link with special:permanentLink/number?)


 * Assuming we're not over thinking this:


 * In the case of an individual sport:
 * Does it mean women and men compete against one another?
 * In the case of a team sport:
 * Does it mean teams are composed of a "single sex" and only compete against like sexed teams?
 * Does it mean teams are composed of a "single sex" and compete against teams of the "opposite" sex?
 * Does it mean teams are mixed--that teams are composed of a specific number of "each" gender?
 * Does it mean teams are mixed--that teams are composed of any number of "each" gender?

Looking for a "women only" sport

 * I went looking for a sport in which only one gender participates, but found this--not surprisingly--more difficult than I first thought.

Field Hockey?

 * My provincial thinking led me to (mistakenly) believe field hockey was a women's sport. I was wrong. See the third from last paragraph in the History section of the Field Hockey article quoted below:


 * In the United States field hockey is played predominantly by females. However, outside North America, participation is now fairly evenly balanced between men and women. [emphasis added] For example, in England, England Hockey reports that as of the 2008–09 season there were 2488 registered men's teams, 1969 women's teams, 1042 boys' teams, 966 girls' teams and 274 mixed teams.[18] In 2006 the Irish Hockey Association reported that the gender split among its players was approximately 65% female and 35% male.[19] In its 2008 census, Hockey Australia reported 40,534 male club players and 41,542 female.[20] However, in the United States of America, there are few field hockey clubs, most play taking place between high school or college sides, consisting almost entirely of women. The strength of college field hockey reflects the impact of Title IX which mandated that colleges should fund men's and women's games programmes comparably.

Synchronized Swimming?

 * Synchronized swimming is another interesting case, especially given the history and recent rule changes: search for " men" and you'll find 10 occurrences including these two consecutive sentences:
 * In the late 19th century, synchronised swimming was a male-only event.[7] However, in the 20th century it became a women's sport, with men banned from many competitions.

What's actually in the mgender field?

 * I went hunting for populated mgender fields. I found the following strings in the mgender field of the infobox, which to my eye prompt questions rather than inform--which I admit may be further confused by line wrapping inside the infobox:
 * Field_hockey: mgender field not populated
 * Synchronized_swimming: mgender field not populated
 * Netball: "Yes, separate competitions and mixed gender teams"
 * Fencing: "Yes, separate"
 * Surfing: "Yes, separate competitions"
 * Floorball: "Yes, separate competitions"
 * Nine-ball: "Yes"

Wait, there's more: category:Mixed-sex sports

 * I made sure that all of the above were in the existing Mixed-sex sports category, but while I was writing this note my nine-ball edit--adding category:Mixed-sex sports was reverted.

Wikidata implementation

 * Moreover, this discussion needs to be addressed/implemented on Wikidata. I'm hoping this discussion will help with said implementation.

Simplistic gender model

 * Of course this means we're ignoring genders other than those assigned at birth.

--CmdrDan (talk) 03:28, 4 August 2021 (UTC)

Pictograms
I think it would be cool if we could somehow incorporate the pictograms saved on Commons, like the ones above, that are used on the Olympics articles. Zzyzx11 (talk) 05:44, 3 January 2014 (UTC)