Pitz
 | |
| Nicknames | High Pitz, Hip-ball, Mutulese Ballgame |
|---|---|
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | Forbidden |
| Team members | Six |
| Mixed gender | No, separate competitions |
| Type | Team sport, ball sport |
| Equipment | Pitz ball, body protections, especially for the hips |
| Venue | ballcourt |
| Presence | |
| Country or region | Oxidentale, Norumbia, South and South-east Ochran, Scipia |
The Pitz (also known as High Pitz, Hip-ball or Mutulese Ballgame) is a team sport played between two teams of six players with a spherical ball. The game is one of the oldest continuously played sports in the world and is notable for the fact that it is the oldest known game using a rubber ball.
Professional Pitz is one of a family of football codes which emerged from various ball games played in Oxidentale since antiquity. The modern game traces its origins to 1871 when the Laws of the Game were originally codified by the Pitzalk’in Temple.
The complete rules are extensive, but simply, play proceeds as follows: a player on one of the teams begins by serving the ball (One of the only occasion when the ball is touched with the hands), from the End Zone, over the central line, and into the receiving team's court. The receiving team must not let the ball stop moving within their court. The team may touch the ball up to 5 times but individual players may not touch the ball more than twice consecutively. The court’s lateral walls are considered legal playing surfaces.
The object of the game is to keep the ball in play and in bounds. A team scores a point when a player of the opposing team hits the ball out of turn; knocks the ball out of bounds; touches the ball with their hands or some other body part aside from the hip; accidentally touches a teammate; lets the ball stop moving. The first team that scores nine points wins the round. Managing to get the ball through one of the stone circles is an immediate win of the round.
History
It is not known precisely when or where Pitz originated, although it is likely that the game originated earlier than 1400 BCE in the low-lying tropical zones home to the rubber tree, notably in the Ben Zoa heartland, and the Pre-dynasty era city-states that will become the Mutul and slowly spread to most of Northern Oxidentale from there. By the 1000 BCE, ballgames had become extremely common in the First Dynasty and were often an occasion For the Paol'lunyu monarch to forge strong links with his vassals.
By the 300 BCE, the Pitz family of ballgames expanded greatly, with thousand of local rulesets using hips, hands, legs, forearms… and playing like modern day netless volleyball, or more like pelote, or even hockey. Sport events soon became a way to settle dispute or conflict with minimal bloodshed between aristocratic clans or opposing cities. The Pitz imposed itself as the "Noblest Sport" of the Mutul, and maintaining a good Pitz team was more important than to have an army for most of the nobility and clergy.
It soon became important for the successive Mutuleses dynasties to create clear rulesets followed in all of the Mutul. Many codex with such compilations of rules and laws concerning the Pitz were published thourough the centuries, giving their names to the variants of Pitz associated with them, such as the Snake-Pitz, Western-Pitz, Hearthland Pitz, K'iche Pitz, Second K'iche Pitz...
It's only in 1871 that the Pitzalk'in Temple in the Ben Zoa Hearthland, proposed to the K'uhul Ajaw a new codex of rules to replace the Janab'Pakal II Pitz. The goal of the Pitzalk'in monks was to create a Pitz game able to be easily spread at the internationale, so the interest in Pitz games in Mutulese Ochran, Scipia and Oxidentale could be unified into an international governing body. The monks' codex, while refused by the Divine Throne at first, was adopted in Sante Reze and in Benaajab and became popular there. It's only under the rule of the next K'uhul Ajaw, Lady Sak K'uk II, that the Pitzalk'in Ruleset was officialy adopted by the Mutul, opening the current era of the Pitz.
Gameplay
Laws
There are 13 laws in the official Laws of the Game, each containing a collection of stipulation and guidelines. The same laws are designed to apply to all levels of football, although certain modifications for groups such as juniors, seniors, women and people with physical disabilities are permitted. The laws are often framed in broad terms, which allow flexibility in their application depending on the nature of the game. The Laws of the Game are published by the Pitzk'in Temple. In addition to the Thirteen laws, numerous Pitzk'in decisions and other directives contribute to the regulation of the game.
The Thirteen Laws are the following :
- The Ballcourt : The ballcourt will be composed mainly of a flat Alley 5 meters wide for 29 meters long. The Alley is to be flanked by two sloping walls, called apron. The aprons must remain at an angle between 9 and 10 degrees. At each end of the Alley there will be an End Zone, which size may vary but who shall always be slightly larger than the Alley, no longer than the Alley, and have no sloping walls. Two Stone Circles shall be placed at top and the exact middle of the Aprons, facing one another. Stone circles are to be 22,86 centimeters wides.
- The Ball : The ball is to be 20,32 centimeters wide and made of solid, vulcanized, rubber. It shall not weight above 4,1 kilograms.
- The Players : Each team will be made of six players. A match cannot continue if less than four players are in one team.
- The Players' equipment : The basic equipment of the Pitzom shall be : An athletic support and hips protections, legs, knees, and forearms guards, torso guard, and headgear. Shoes are forbidden but socks are allowed. Teams shall bear uniforms that can be easily distinguished from their opponents' own uniforms, and cannot wear anything that could be harmful to them or others.
- The Referees : There shall be for all matches one Head Referee, who has full authority to enforce the Laws of the Game in connection with the match to which he has been appointed. All his decisions are finals. A Head referee can be helped by up to two assistant-referees of his choice.
- Duration of a match : To win a round, a team must score 9 points, with a difference of at least 2 points with the opposing team. If a team reach a score of 9 points with less than 1 point of difference, then the round shall enter overtime when the party will continue until one or the other team has scored 2 points more than the opposing team. Once a round is won, sides are switched and a new round start. A team must win two rounds to win a match. There is no time limit on a match, but there can be no more than three rounds.
- Determining the Score : A team scores a point when a player of the opposing team hits the ball out of turn; knocks the ball out of bounds; touches the ball with their hands or some other body part aside from the hip, knees, abdomen, and torso; accidentally touches a teammate; lets the ball stop in their court. If a team get the ball through one of the stone circle, then they automatically win the round, regardless of the current scores.
- Start of the game : a player on the servicing team begins by serving the ball (One of the only occasion when the ball is touched with the hands), from the End Zone, over the central line, and into the receiving team's court. A point is retracted from the servicing team if the ball directly reach the End Zone with less than two bounces, then they can serve again. If the ball end in the opposing End Zone a second time, then they loose another point, and the other team serve.
- In and Out of Play : Both the Alley and the Aprons are considered playable surfaces and a ball is always In Play if it is moving on these surfaces. A ball is considered In Play if in the air. A ball is considered Out of Play it has fully crossed the End Line and entered one of the End Zones. A ball is considered Out of Play if it went above the Upper Wall of the Aprons and into either the lodge of the referees or into the spectators seats.
- Fouls and Misconducts : A foul is an unfair act by a player, deemed by the referee to contravene the game's laws, that interferes with the active play of the game. A foul is punished with either the retraction of one point out of the team's score, the addition of one point to the opposing team's score, or the award of a Free Face-Off. A Misconduct is any conduct by a player that is deemed by the referee to warrant a disciplinary sanction. They may occur at any time, including when the ball is out of play, during half-time and before and after the game. A player is "warned" after : Unsporting behaviors; dissent by word or action; Persistent infringement of the Laws of the Game; Delaying the restart of play; Entering or re-entering the field of play without the referee's permission; Deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee's permission. After two warning, a player is "dismissed" and can no longer take part in the game or be replaced. Misconducts can also lead directly to a dismissal. These are : serious foul play; violent conduct; Any degrading gesture at an opponent or any other person; deliberately maintaining the ball in movement by kicking it or by doing any other foul.
Governing Bodies
International Competitions
The major international competition in Pitz is the Mulawil Halaab (World Court) , organised by the International Pitz Secular Rectorate , the sport's global governing body. Approximately twenty national teams compete in qualifying tournaments within the scope of continental confederations for a place in the finals. The finals tournament, which is held every four years, involves 16 national teams competing over a two-week period. The Mulawil Halaab is held every four years since 1946, when it replaced the Pitz Trans-Continental Court.
After the World Cup, the most important international football competitions are the continental championships known as the Golden Courts (K'an Halaab'ob) which are organised by each continental confederation and contested between national teams. These are the K'anol Halaab (Golden Heart Court) for Oxidentale and Norumbia, the K'anoch Halaab (Golden Promise Court) for Ochran, the K'anich Halaab (Golden Flower Court) for Scipia, and the K'ank'in Halaab ( Golden Sun Court) for Belisaria. The Yaxch'ak Halaab (Precious Grand Court or Blue-Red Court) is contested by the winners of all six continental Halaab, the current World Cup champions and the country which is hosting the Yaxch'ak Halaab.
The most prestigious competitions for Pitz clubs are the respective continental championships, which are generally contested between national champions, for example the All Stars (Chanek') League in Oxidentale. The winners of each continental competition contest the Club World Court.
Each Halaab reward its champion with a medal and a Pitzball with characteristic matching those of the Halaab its associated with. For example, the K'anolje, won by the champions of the K'anol Halaab, is a golden ball with its surface sculpted to ressemble a heart, while the K'anochje is held by two golden hand in a position reminding that of a prayer.
Domestic Competitions
The governing bodies in each country operate league systems in a domestic season, normally comprising several divisions, in which the teams gain points throughout the season depending on results. Teams are placed into tables, placing them in order according to points accrued. Most commonly, each team plays every other team in its league at home and away in each season, in a round-robin tournament. At the end of a season, the top team is declared the champion. The top few teams may be promoted to a higher division, and one or more of the teams finishing at the bottom are relegated to a lower division. The teams finishing at the top of a country's league may be eligible also to play in international club competitions in the following season. The majority of countries supplement the league system with one or more "cup" competitions organised on a knock-out basis.