The Sport of Kings
THE SPORT OF KINGS
Sunday mornings , the church mass has ended, and men head of to the local Sabong Arena. The first fight is just about to start; Cheers and shouts of betting punters can be heard as you approach the building. The participants and spectators are excited about the upcoming fight, gambling is prevalent during matches and, sometimes, heavy bets are placed on the favourites.
Animal activists beware, this arena still practices Sabong (cock fighting), an organized fight between two roosters After basketball, THE second most popular sport in the country; it is a favourite hobby for many Filipinos and deeply enjoyed in their culture. Cockfighting has been around for centuries, nowadays it is one of the traditional betting games in the Philippines, and millions of pesos are won and lost every Sunday throughout the nation. Every contest is judged by a referee, the ‘sentensyador’, his ruling is definite so there's no use trying to appeal to his decision. Another important role in the game is assigned to the person who is holding the bets, often referred to as “Kristo”,from the word “Christ”. You might see him stretching his arms when taking bets and he is supposed to be as honest as the Lord himself, Jesus; trust is a sacred virtue in Sabong. This kind of 'bet taker' is able to memorise the bets without keeping notes on paper and they're fully entrusted to do so.
Roosters square up to each other like gladiators.
Fights (Pintakasi) are held in a cockpit arena, a sabungan, the centre of this square theatre has a dirt floor that is littered with feathers, at this spot roosters will fight each other almost like Roman gladiators. The natural spurs of the roosters are sawed off and replaced with taris, two inch long, thin razor sharp blades or slashers that can inflict nasty wounds. The bloody match itself only last a few minutes, and sometimes seconds.. and most fights are to the death, but in some cases the cocks may suffer severe injuries and get patched up behind the scenes, they are then retired and get to live another day. Even the winner often ends up with the same fate as the loser, being cooked in a, very tasteful, local dish appropriately named; talunan, meaning defeated chicken.
. For the onlookers and contestants, sabungeros, it is an exhilarating day out; cockfights can last till early in the evening. Sabong is practiced all over the islands
A razor sharp blade is attached to the left leg of each bird
The roosters are particularly bred to fight and trained for aggressiveness, exceptional strength and increased endurance. It is an expensive enterprise; the owner of a rooster can spend thousands of pesos for training, vitamins and additives to keep the bird into its best fighting form, they are really well cared for and treated as pets by many.
Almost immediately, the Roosters attack.
Within in minutes it's all over for one of fighters.
In the Philippines cockfighting is legal, regulated by the government and bound to rules and permits, matches take place every weekend and during fiestas, but illegal fights, Tupada or Tigbakay, are held almost daily in backyards, barns, vacant lots and open fields. Cockfighting is always surrounded with much criticism and will remain a controversial issue, for some it means cruelty, for others it is culture. It is considered as a heinous, extremely brutal and bloody form of sport by animal rights activists, but for many it is a crowd-pleasing game that is raising passions, it is a sport widely appreciated by the local population all over the Philippines.
The wounded are patched up to retire and live another day
For both the fortunate and the underprivileged cockfighting is a way of life and an inseparable part of their history and tradition.
THE SPORT OF KINGS
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