Themiclesian football
Balls (擲丸, drjik-gwan) is a ball sport with several variations whose common objective is to take control of two objects—a ball and a flag—and to toss the ball into scoring areas or baskets located outside the field of play. The primary challenge is evading an opposing team's attempts to deprive either the ball or flag, both of which is necessary in order to score. The dynamic of the game occurs in the geometry of and placement of scoring areas around the field and the rules regarding passing of the flag and ball: the flag cannot fly through the air, while the ball cannot bounce twice on the ground. Additional rules may be enforced to create more hazards.
While the primitive form of the sport is thought to be derived from Themiclesian tsjuk-kjuk (蹴鞠), it has since been influenced by Casaterran sports to a great degree, introducing the element of movement and outright scoring. The sport, for its many hazards and restrictions, has been called a "quintessentially Themiclesian" one. In previous centuries, the sport also has a uniquely military connotation to it: its earliest players appeared to be soldiers, and the game was initially arranged to be a simulation of some sort of battlefield action.
Game description
Equipment
While balls has many aspects that render it similar to contact sports such as football and rugby, it is by definition a non-contact sport; rules exist to penalize both intentional and unintentional contact. As such, no protective padding or helmets are worn. Prominent players typically wear traditional Themiclesian attire, consisting of a knee-length garment secured at the waist with a sash, with wide and long sleeves that extend far past the player's hands, and long, wide pants with unclosed flies tied to the knee for ease of movement. In casual play and tournaments, attire rules are seldom enforced or even observed.
The ball passed between players and used to score points is made from a core of feathers packed into an animal sack, then surfaced with glue and cork, then stiched with leather. The feather is first boiled in water to make it pliable, so that it can be stuffed effectively into the sack. The sack is then slowly wind-dried to remove moisture. cork is pulverized with a hammer then applied across the sack with animal glue. Sheepskin is traditionally used to finish the ball to prevent it from cracking or shattering. The standard ball must be at least 38 cm in diameter and weigh no more than 380 g. This means larger and lighter balls are possible, though they are seldom encountered; beyond a certain size and density, the dynamic of the game becomes unplayably slow.
The flag (縌) used is derived from an officer's ribbon that held his seal to his sash. Along with the sash, the ribbon is a symbol of office in both military and civilian contexts. It is woven from silk and then twined together. Traditionally, the colour is pale blue, being the ribbon colour of the most junior military officers entitled to one's use; today, ribbons of any colour may be used for visibility.
Playing field and scoring areas
The ordinary field of play measures 108 by 54 meters. However, fields of other dimensions may be used provided both teams agree to it. To date, most televised matches use the standard field. In the past, it was common for teams to agree on a "permanent deviation" (e.g. between Team A and Team B, a field of 100 by 50 is agreed upon for an entire playing season) if expecting to play each other for a prolonged series of games, but with the construction of dedicated stadiums with immovable seating and the rotation of home/away games, this has become rare. The field is divided along its long side into equal sixths called stades, and each sixth is further divided into equal sixths called steps. One half is called the "safe end", while the other, the "hazard end". The field is also halved along its short side, creating "field north" and "field south". This nomenclature has nothing to do with the actual orientation of the field itself, but "field south" is always the side of the field next to the "chase gallery".
Flanking the field on all four sides are scoring areas, usually called galleries after tennis. They are asymmetrically arranged along both axes. Closer to the safe end, there is a scoring area, the "safe gallery" divided into two halves corresponding to field north and south, each one step deep. On the opposite side, there is the "hazard gallery" two steps deep. The gallery closer to field north is the "recovery gallery", one step deep, and the one opposite it the "chase gallery", two steps deep. At the very edge of the playing field, there is a rope suspended, called the tape.
During play, each team is assigned to one end of the field. The stade closest to the end galleries are off-limits to the team of the other end.
Players
Each side may field between eight and sixteen players at any given time.
Manner of play
Ordinary play
In the inchoative phase of the game, the team on the safe end, called the advance, take possession of the ball and fling it, with any part of the body, into the air. Players on the advance may go beyond the middle of the field only after the ball is flung. After this, the advance will attempt to position its players so as to receive the ball and then pass it on to another member, until they have reached a favourable position from which they may win the point outright. Since the holder may not move with the ball, the ball must be advanced towards the gallery being passed to a different player. The ball is allowed to bounce once on the ground before it reaches the receiver. At the same time, the flag will be passed by a different player on the advance. Though notionally the flag could also be thrown, it does not fly well through the air, and it is most effectively passed from player to player; nevertheless, it could be thrown short distances, though its elongated shape render it easy to intercept. The ultimate objective is to pass both the flag and the ball to a player, who then must fling the ball into the scoring area, winning a point. If the final fling is taken from field left, only the hazard gallery's right quarters, on each half of the field, are available for scoring; a ball landing in the wrong quarter is called a miss. The defence's objectives are largely comparable to the advance, except reversed in orientation; however, because the scoring zones for the defence are much smaller than those of the advance, the defence usually chooses to force a chase, rather than attempt to score outright.
Chase
A chase occurs when the advancing team flings the ball into the air but receives it after two bounces; that it occurs is said to be laying down a chase. A chase is so named because the advance is likely to be chasing the ball desperately to save the point from being won by the defence outright. If the advance is unable to receive the ball after the third bounce, then the defence automatically wins a point. When a chase is laid down, the distance the ball was, when it bounced the second time, from the end of the field is recorded, and the identities of the sides are reversed; the advance is now on the defence, while the defence takes the advance. Playing of a chase is similar to but not the same as ordinary play.
Like other points, the chase point starts from the middle of the field, but the teams switch side. The defence is now the advance, and the advance is now the defence. However, the object of the game changes. The defence must now not only defend the hazard gallery behind them, but also the chase gallery field-south. Due to the change in the size and orientation of the objective, chase points have a rather different style of play. In playing the chase point, it is the objective of the defence to force the advance's ball to bounce twice closer to the middle of the field than the original second bounce that gave rise to the chase point.