Pitz in the Mutul
| Pitz in the Mutul | |
|---|---|
 Mutulese crowd during a Pitz game | |
| Country |  Mutul |
| National team(s) | The Mutul chosen pitz team |
| Clubs | 41,586 |
National competitions | |
Club competitions | |
Pitz is the most popular sport in the Mutul and the country's national sport. The Mutul is recognized worldwide as the birthplace of the sport, with an history going back thousand of years into antiquity. Modern rules for Pitz appeared in the 19th century as an evolution of "Legal Pitz", the ruleset used during trials as Pitz was considered a valid form of ordeal. the Itzamnaaj' Reforms got rid of this pluri millennial law, forcing Noble Houses, who had invested vast sums of money into maintaining "stables" of players, to either lay off their Pitz teams or to find new way to profit from those professionals. in 1848, the first professional Pitz league was created between four franchises of K'alak Muul. Its example was followed throughout the country. As the sport grew and connection between different parts of the Mutul became easier, those Circuits either merged or disappeared until in 1916 the modern structure of Mutulese Pitz was codified, with the High Court at its top.
Highschool and College level Pitz is also extremely popular in the Mutul.
History
The first professional Pitz players appeared around 1400 CE as part of the Ilok'tab Dynasty legal system. While it had always been possible for Lords accused of wrongdoing to challenge the other party in a Pitz game as a form of Trial by ordeal, it had been impossible for either party to substitute themselves and they had to play through the game. In the 15th century, as Pitz had shifted from an individual to a team sport, reforms to the justice system allowed legal parties to call upon champions to represent them. Great Houses began to gather "stables" of professional players to defend the family-members honor in and out of trials.
After 1840 and the reforms making the use of a Pitz match as an ordeal unreceivable in a court of law, It became less useful for the noble houses to keep under their service special Pitz teams. Nonetheless, the sport remained popular and many Batabs, high priests, or Yajaws kept under their service a Pitz team, with Pitz games remaining a strong popular distraction during festivities and religious events.
Soon, teams started to create Circuits, competitions, and local tournaments. One of the most prestigious was the Ben Zoa Circuit, where some of the best players of their time played. A great upset as it was then held as common knowledge that K'alak Muul or Yu were where Pitz was played at its best. Local religious institutions were tasked with the arbitrage and while rules differed slightly from circuit to circuit, they still shared a common heritage from the Ordeal Code. This era is known as the “Janab’ Pakal II” Pitz.
In 1871, the Pitzalk’in Temple, the reputed institution in charge of forming and regrouping Pitz referees for the Ben Zoa Circuit, published a project of reform of the Pitz rules, aiming at a democratization and global diffusion of the sport. They immediately applied the rules in their circuit, and while the project received no royal support nor was received favorably by other major circuits, it was nonetheless adopted by some but also at the internationale. In 1902, the K’uhul Ajaw Sak K’uk II finally gave her approval of the project, which then became the new, harmonized, ruleset for all Pitz circuits.
In 1903, the first inter-circuits competition took place, and it led to the reform of many of the smaller circuits to compete with the “Majors”. In 1909, the same Majors unified into the Pitz Secular Rectorate, later renamed the Mutun Pitz Secular Rectorate, soon followed by the smaller circuits, finally unifying by 1910 all of the Pitz teams into one single, national, federation.
The Rectorate’s inaugural season of the national circuit, called the Jade Court, was held in 1910 - 1911. The 20 inaugural clubs were those that, through their results, were considered to be the best and most reputed teams of their time. The 20 clubs were inserted into two groups of 10 with the bottom three of each group suffering relegation to the Golden Court. The two winners of each group would then face each other in a final held at a neutral venue. National athletic events were momentarily suspended during the Belfro-Mutulese war of 1911, and only resumed in 1916. It let the time to the institutions to rethink the model of the competition. In 1916-1917, the first season of the now renamed High Court and Lower Court took place, with 20 teams each. Since then, the High Court has taken place each year uninterrupted, for a total of 106 seasons in 2023.
Organisation in the Mutul
Amateur Pitz
Highschool Pitz
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The Mutul' 6144 secondary schools are grouped in divisions of four. Teams in a division face one another twice over six weeks. The team with the highest winrate is crowned champion of the division and goes to the next stage, where it face the winners of three other local divisions, generally the geographically closest ones. There are 1536 rank 1 divisions, then 384 rank 2, 96 rank 3, 24 rank 4, and finally 6 rank 5 divisions, called Circuits, of four teams each. After 30 weeks, the six Circuits champions face each others in a single-eliminations play-offs: the two teams with the highest winrate skip the first round and get a rest week before facing the two first round's winners in the semi-finales. The week 33 finale, called the Youthful Court, is consistently in the Mutul' top 5 Most Watched sport events of the year. It is the most popular amateur sport event in the country with, on average, 10 million spectators following the TV broadcast.
College Pitz
There are 3155 tertiary schools in the Mutul offering college-equivalent education. They are divided between Chok Nahob, opened to everyone and focused on teaching technical and practical skills for people wanting to join the job market with engineer-level degrees, and Nawob who offer, mostly to Aristocrats and a selected few Commoners who have passed a Nawi' Annual Examination, a more scholarly education with longer studies. All of them possess either a Pitz Club (1899), an association of students practicing Pitz, or a Pitz Program (1256), an institution-supported team offering grands and support to its student athletes. Program Teams are all part of the Grand Schools Pitz Rectorate (Lakam Kannahob Pitz Hob'en, "Lakapiho") and are grouped in 157 divisions of eight teams. All divisions play one another twice, leading to a 14 games season. Divisions are grouped in five geographical Conference: North (32 Divisions), West (31), Central (32), East (32), and South (30). Each Conference host its own Championship, with their own methods to determine a champion.
After the Championships, the five Lakapiho Champions face one another in the Cardinal Champions Court (B'e Chakalob Halab, "Bechaha"), another Lakapiho competition where the five teams face each other twice. There are no elimination or finales: the team with the highest win rate at the end of the four weeks is crowned the Lakapiho Grand Champion.
Pitz Clubs meanwhile, are free to organise themselves in many different Rectorates and Circuits. There were, in 2024, 11 different Rectorates governing Pitz Clubs. Each Rectorate organize itself differently, with their own codes and structures. By tradition, finales organized by those Rectorates are called 'Rings'. In 2023, there were 19 Rings organized by 10 Rectorates (the last one, the Northern Pitz Educational Clubs Benevolent Rectorate (Xuman Hukatob Kuch Hob'en, "Xuhukuho"), refuse to organize post-season games). While "Club Pitz" is popular in its own right only Rings are commonly broadcasted and only to the organizing Rectorate' geographic area, although the rising accessibility of internet has helped propagate them, and it remain less followed than the Lakapiho' Championships and Cardinal Champions Court, which itself rarely overtake the Youth Ball in countrywide ratings.
Amateur Circuits
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At the bottom of the Mutul' Pitz Circuits hierarchy are the Amateur Circuits, united in the Amateur Pitz Rectorate, they are divided in five levels: The Batabil (Municipal), Kuchkabal (County), Yajawil (Provincial), Regional, and Royal levels. The Royal tier is itself subdivided into four Courts: the Black, White, Yellow, and Red Courts of 20 teams each. All five levels are tied together by a system of Promotion and relegation, with for example the Regional Champions playing games against the five worst performing teams of the Black Court, the five highest ranked teams of this mini-tournament being promoted, or staying, in the Black Court while the other five are relegated to, or stay in, the Regionals. The Black Court is special in that it is the only level which demand such challenges to potential promoted teams: the champion of the Black Court for example goes on to replace automatically the worst performing team in the White Court.
Amateur clubs in the Mutul are necessarily not-for-profit organizations and it is illegal for their players and for their staffs to make a living of the team. Revenues, be they from ticket sales, merchandising, sponsorships, adhesion fees, or gambling events, must be used either on the team and by the team, or redistributed through charity. It is why many clubs prefer to register as semi-professional, for-profit organizations which allow them to legally pay a minimum salary to their staff and offer bonus to their players depending on their performances without necessarily offering them signed contracts. Teams at the Regional and Royal levels may also compete with professional teams. Only professional teams can be promoted to the next level of Mutulese Pitz: the Lower Court.
Professional Pitz
Lower Court
The Lower Court is the first all-pro tier of the Mutul' Pitz hierarchy. It is contested by 20 clubs and franchises all facing each others twice during a season (38 games per team). As for its grand sister, the High Court, there are no play-offs: the champion is the team with the highest score at the end of the season (3 points for a victory, 1 for a tie, none for a loss). The Lower Court Champion is then promoted to the High Court, while the High Court' lowest ranked team is relegated to the Lower Court for the following season. Meanwhile, the lowest ranked team in the Lower Court may be relegated to the Red Court if the latter's Champion is a team that has been fully professional for at least a full year. Then the Red Court Champion is promoted to the Lower Court for the next season.
High Court
The High Court is at the top of the Mutul’s Pitz hierarchy of competitions. It is contested by 20 clubs and operate on a system of promotion and relegation with the Lower Court. All clubs and franchises face one another twice, for a total of 38 games per team. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. There are no play-offs: the team with the most points at the end of the season is crowned champion. Only if there's a tier for the championship post-season games may be played as tie-breakers.
Championships
Divine Court
The Divine Court is a Single-elimination tournament open to all clubs and franchises in the Mutul, pro and amateurs alike. Teams evolving at the Regional Level and above are automatically qualified for the competition. Teams evolving at the Regional level and under must go through the Provincial Courts, local championships organized by each local Pitz Rectorate, and depending on their final ranking can be qualified for the Divine Court. Each Viceroyalty has a number of teams to send to the Divine Court. This number is determined by ranking the Viceroyalties by their total number of amateur and semi-pro clubs. The most "populous" Viceroyalty send three teams, the next five send two teams, and 51 remaining Viceroyalties send only one teams, their Regional Court' Champion, for a total 64 teams.
Chosen provincial teams are joined by the 120 teams evolving at the Regional Level (Northern, Southern, Western, Central, and Eastern Courts). All of the clubs are then split and drawn against each other randomly, regardless of regional affiliation (though geographical pots are made prior to the draw to limit transport costs). The 100 teams in the Color Courts then join in round 2, the Lower Court's 20 teams in round 3, and the High Court's 20 teams in round 4 (the round of 64). Round 5 is the Round of 32, Round 6 the eighth finals, and so on until the Finale which is always held in K'alak Muul.
Bar exceptional years, the Divine Court' finale is the most watched sport even in the Mutul, with the expected viewership anywhere between 50 and 55 million spectators. Combined with random draws and one-off matches, the Divine Court can prove difficult for professional clubs to win although an amateur club has reached the finale only ten times in the history of the competition. Being qualified for the Divine Court, or even reaching the Finale, is seen as a lifetime dream for many Pitz players in the Mutul and many rituals and traditions surround the competition. The K'uhul Ajaw always spectate in person the Finale and give to the winning team the Court's trophy, commonly known as the "Divine Ball".