Hardship has been a great innovator, forcing humans to make sport out of whatever they have.
The Afghans play a form of polo-cum-rugby with a dead sheep; in Stawell (Australia), I remember an annual running race (the ‘Stawell Gift’) where the prize was a pig; in rural England there are violent games with big ‘wheels’ of cheese and sides of bacon.
Hardship has been a great innovator, forcing humans to make sport out of whatever they have.
The Afghans play a form of polo-cum-rugby with a dead sheep; in Stawell (Australia), I remember an annual running race (the ‘Stawell Gift’) where the prize was a pig; in rural England there are violent games with big ‘wheels’ of cheese and sides of bacon.
Meanwhile, in Georgetown (Guyana) people create a spectacle with whatever comes to hand. Each sunday, the draymen shut off Homestretch Avenue, and have a mule race , and the national sport is ‘rackling’ (see picture).
To be a rackler, you have to put a tiny bird in a cage, and then coax it to sing. Make no mistake, a champion bird is worth a small fortune.
