Jugger
Jugger is a sport inspired by the Australian-American movie “The Salute of the Jugger” (alternative title: The Blood of Heroes), starring Rutger Hauer and directed and written by David Webb Peoples. It is said that he purposely invented Jugger for the movie. In the movie, the portrayal of Jugger was incredibly brutal. They used steel weapons, make-shift armors and had serious injuries.
The movie is about the story of a blood sport called “The Game” played in a post-apocalyptic future where the wars waged in the 20th century have left the world barren. Teams who wander the wastelands play with each other in reward for food and other necessities, continuing to make sure they’ve become powerful enough to join “The League”. The League is a powerful team and an organization of juggers that live in luxury. They are veterans of the games and they keep a fresh stream of new players.
The transformation from movie to real sport first happened in Germany and Australia. In Germany, they have their own university and college teams with its own league. The sport has also surfaced in Ireland, England, Costa Rica, The Netherlands, Spain and Denmark, also some states in the US like Ohio, Wyoming and Oklahoma.
The first Jugger International Tournament was held on 20 May 2007 in Hamburg, Germany. The teams were the Irish Setanta and a couple of teams from Northern Germany.
By 2008, Ireland and Australia teams joined the German-Open for the first two-continent tournament in Jugger.
The team consists of 8 members – 5 members are allowed to be on the field are qwik (player without weapons and will only be the one allowed to touch the skull), maximum one chain (armed with chain), three respectively four enforcers (armed with whatever weapons they like except the chain and up to three substitutes (will replace any player).
They use equipment such as the skull (a ball that resembles a dog skull, made of foam and covered with latex), the stakes (a loop that is connected to the skull and looped over the stake to score / in other countries, a pyramid with the top cut off), a gong and 100 stones (to throw against the gong to keep time) and weapons that are quite similar to live-action role playing weapons.
Australian and American weapons are quite similar to one another. These include a pole arm (150-180 cm), short swords (85 cm) and chain (320 cm) while German weapons include a staff (180 cm), long sword (140 cm) and chain (320 cm).
The objective is for the team’s qwik must get to the other team’s foam dog skull or jugg. The goal is to score more points than your opponents within a time limit. Tap a member of the opposing team with your spar and then they’re down, they will be forced to kneel and be out from play.
Both teams will be running towards the ball with four enforcers protecting the runner, helping the way be cleared to get the ball picked up and run towards the field and score. Hitting other members to the head, hands or neck isn’t allowed.
Similar Sports
- Muggle Quidditch — the playable version of the sport of Quidditch invented for the Harry Potter books.
Related Pages
- Fictional Sports — list of sports that are based on a fictional world
- Complete list of sports
- The Encyclopedia of Sports
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