Me'eno

Me'eno

Highest governing body	Me'eno League
First played	before 1700
Characteristics
Contact	Limited
Team members	Variable (traditionally played with one or two members on each side)
Type	Team sport • Ball game
Equipment	me'e ball
Venue	Me'eno court
Glossary	Glossary
Presence
Country or region	Garetolia

Me'eno (English: lit. "hut game") is a sport played solely in Garetolia, in which two sides compete usually on a court attempting to score points. The offense must bank the ball off a slanted roof or similar feature while the defense (or offense) attempts to recover the me'e ball before it settles. Such a ball is usually made of leather, similar to a cricket ball or baseball. Whichever side recovers the ball and secures posession becomes the offense, with the other side switching back to defense. There is no limit to however many turns in a row one side can hold the ball until the game ends. The game ends whenever one side reaches a mark of 15 points; this number is not concrete and is technically variable at the referee's discretion, though no such instance has taken place.

Me'eno has been played since prehistoric times in Garetolia, originally having evolved to be a similar sport to modern-day handball. The first recorded game was played on 17 September 1811 between a band of Garetolians and a group of British settlers, though this version of the game allowed full contact, as opposed to a more regulated style played today. Its rules were standardized in 1961 with the creation of the Me'eno League and since then, only three rule changes have taken place, the most recent being in 2006.

Me'eno is the sixth-most popular sport in Garetolia by viewership. It is played only on a professional level in small arenas, which is why it has not grown to the level of popularity of other sports like assocciation football in Garetoliaassocciation football. Its annual championship game is played in May of every year, marking the end of the four month-long season. It is a common pastime among residents of Garetolia, particularly those in more rural areas, usually played banking the me'e ball against the side of a house or a hut, hence the name.

History

Me'eno has been played since 1700 at the latest. Pottery with pictographs of the sport inscribed on it dating to around 1400 CE has been discovered, further confirming its roots in prehistoric Polynesia. It is unique to the region as it is the only known Polynesian sport to use a ball as its main device to score points, rather than other traditional sports such as javelin throwing and fishing. The rules of this version of the sport against today's can be compared to the rules of episkyros to modern football; the older version allowed for the use of violence and was much more rugged. As the name suggests, the sport was usually played against the side of a hut or other structure, one with a slanted roof and a flat vertical wall below it. Some geological formations also served as me'eno courts in early years. As opposed to today, in which the me'e ball must be collected before it settles, the ball was free until one side maintained posession of it for a long enough time. In this version, the sport was usually played until each athelete agreed to stop rather than a concrete goal as in today's play. In some instances, the game would last for days at a time, but this was less common.

After the British arrived and learned of the game and its rules, several rule changes took place in order to make it more suitable for them. Violence was less common, and seeing as the native Garetolians were much faster than them, settlers mandated that there be no point awarded to either side if the ball had not ben touched by the time it settled, as to prevent the Garetolians from throwing the ball much farther than normal to outrun their opponents and gain easy points. Many natives, mostly elders, disapproved of the British's new rules, and argued that the rules should be reverted. This change did take place and the following year, in 1811, the first recorded game took place between a group of British men and a tribe of Garetolians. The Garetolians won easily, outscoring the British by a margin of 74-13. Shortly after, the Garetolian Genocide ceased nearly all instances of the game from 1813 until the early 1850s.

In 1866, the first professional me'eno league was formed by a group of secondary school students in Ule'eka. Several more leagues would be formed, though their rules varied. Ule'eka's rules were much closer to traditional play, whereas atheletes in Gainesville created a set of rules that were nearly identical to today's rules, including establishing the serving area, creating areas for the bench, and penalties for hard contact. These rules were mirrored in 1961 with the establishment of the Me'eno League, the sole ruling body in charge of regulating play across Garetolia. Since then, only three rule changes have taken place, the most recent coming in 2006 with the introduction of the self-serve.