Rubber colours: from red/black to the current rules
The two faces of a bat carrying rubber must be of different and sufficiently contrasting colours. Section 3.1 mentioned this requirement; it is worth now explaining why it exists, how it has evolved and what margin it leaves the player.
The reason is tactical. In the late nineteen-seventies, some players began mounting an attacking rubber on one side and one with inverted behaviour on the other — long pimples or anti-spin, types developed in chapter 6 — both of the same colour. By turning the bat in the hand between strokes — a technique known as twiddling — they concealed which surface they were striking with. The opponent could not distinguish the faces and the ball came off, in practice, at random. The problem was serious enough to force a change in the rules.
In 1983, the ITTF required the two faces to be of “different” colours, but the wording left room for sharp practice: red and maroon are, strictly speaking, different. Three years later the gap was closed. On 1 July 1986 the rule came into force that would fix the look of the sport for thirty-five years: one face red, the other black. The chromatic distance between the two colours made it impossible to confuse the faces from the other side of the table. The red and black image most of the public identifies with table tennis is not tradition: it is a regulatory decision with a specific date.
On 1 October 2021, following approval at the 2019 assembly, the rules widened the palette. The non-black face may now be red, blue, green, violet or pink. The four new colours were approved after visibility tests under competition conditions; approved manufacturers may only use the exact shades the ITTF publishes as admissible. The black face remains compulsory on one of the two sides: a player may carry black and green, but not green and red.
Two practical nuances. The first: not every rubber model is available in the five colours. Many rubbers are still produced only in red and black for industrial reasons, and the new colours are concentrated in certain models from the brands that have invested in making them. A player wanting a particular model in an alternative colour must check that the combination exists. The second: if the bat carries rubber on only one face — the usual case in classic penhold, covered in 1.7 — the bare wood of the reverse must be painted in the corresponding colour to maintain the visual distinction. The rules do not allow the wood to be shown in its natural tone.
The rule concerns itself with the visible — with what the opponent can distinguish from their side of the table — and leaves untouched what matters for the game itself: within any legal colour combination, all the approved rubbers in the catalogue have their place. That approval is the business of 3.4.