What is the halacha of playing ball on Shabbos?
The Mechaber rules in Shulchan Aruch that one may not play with a ball on Shabbos or yom tov. The Rama comments there that some allow it and that the custom is to permit it.
In his Shulchan Aruch, the Alter Rebbe adds not to protest those who use a ball, because they have authorities upon whom to rely.
What is the problematic issue with ball playing?
A number of explanations are offered: (a) balls were once made from paper or wood and didn’t have a noticeable categorization of a keili, and were thus muktza, like a rock, which can’t be moved at all on Shabbos; (b) there’s concern one may carry four amos in a reshus harabim, though this wouldn’t present an issue on yom tov; (c) it may lead to leveling the ground, a form of boneh; (d) one might come to fix the ball on Shabbos.
Contemporary poskim note that contemporary balls are made for playing and also don’t usually get ruined to require fixing.
The decrees related to leveling the ground are more lenient today when all floors are finished. In earlier times, prohibited activities were banned even in houses with finished floors out of concern for homes with dirt floors. Nowadays that all city homes have finished floors, we permit these activities indoors.
What about outdoor courts? Contemporary poskim debate whether this leniency applies to paved outdoor courts, e.g., basketball courts; some consider it an extension of the home, especially if fenced in, while others hold it’s problematic.
Soccer fields with natural ground certainly present an issue. Yet, regarding children, if it doesn’t seem they will listen, it is better that they transgress unknowingly than with awareness of the prohibition.
The Yerushalmi states that the metropolis of Tur Shimon was destroyed because they played ball on Shabbos. Meforshim explain that this was because they made the Shabbos mundane.
As the Maharshal puts it, Shabbos was given for Yidden to be involved in Torah and it’s inappropriate to spend Shabbos on trivial things.
RABBI CHAIM HILLEL RASKIN ROV OF ANASH - PETACH TIKVA
