Buzkashi : NPR Buzkashi Afghanistan's national sport is like polo, with a headless goat. If you think about it, most American sports involve an animal hide. Baseballs, basketballs and footballs are all made with leather. In Afghanistan, they don’t just use the skin — the game ball is a whole goat. Minus the head and hooves. Buzkashi, the name of Afghanistan's national sport, translates into something like "goat-grabbing." That's the object: Grab the headless, disemboweled animal carcass (sometimes a calf), circle the field and deliver it to the goal. It originated among the Turkic people of Central Asia centuries ago, and for generations they’ve been passing down the game, and the goat, relatively unchanged. It’s more than a game; it’s a part of the fabric of Afghan life. And its popularity has never waned. In the northern Afghan city of Sheberghan, you can catch a game after noon prayers most Fridays in the winter. That's buzkashi season. Like any Western sport, buzkashi draws a huge crowd of passionate fans — and involves big money, at least by Afghan standards.

In fact, the match we caught was sponsored by Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who has long had a reputation as a ruthless Uzbek warlord [ What? ] and is now a candidate for vice president in the Afghan election [ What again? ]. Powerful figures often sponsor buzkashi matches as a sign of their wealth and influence. Dostum watched this one on TV, from the comfort of his warm and dry compound. But his son, Bator, showed up in person, wearing a bright, striped chapan, a traditional Central Asian overcoat. Bator Dostum sits in the center chair of the stadium, the best seat in the house. Caption There are signs of 2014 at a buzkashi match: Cars line up by the field, spectators carry cellphones, and the incessant "cheerleaders" never seem to put down their megaphones. The atmosphere is reminiscent of a rodeo. But to Western eyes, the game looks like a time capsule from the days of Genghis Khan, when battle exercises were disguised as sport — fighting on horseback, grabbing the prize, breaking away. Back then, buzkashi was training for war.

Today, buzkashi itself is the battle. A painting by Franz Roubaud depicts buzkashi in 1889, still relatively modern given the game's life span. (Hulton Fine Art Collection/Getty Images) Caption Beyond sport, buzkashi is a ritual, a ceremony — a test of strength, cunning and courage. For many young Afghan boys (it is still a man’s sport, on the field and in the stands), growing up to be a champion buzkashi rider, or chapandaz, is the stuff of dreams. But it's not for the faint of heart. The morning of the match, the goat is chosen and slaughtered in halal fashion. Calves are used in high-level matches because they are heavier — up to 100 pounds. The throat is slit and bleeds out. The animal is then decapitated and gutted. The hooves are cut off. The skin is stitched back together. Game time. A chapandaz exhibits nearly perfect form: Whip in mouth, he hoists the buz — or ball — under his right leg and steers the horse with his left arm. Caption Quick Guide: How To Play Well, it kind of depends on where you are.

Even within Afghanistan the rules can vary. The game was standardized by the Afghan Olympic Federation, but that rarely matters. Here's the gist of the version we saw: The animal carcass is dropped at one end of the field. Horses scrum around the carcass as players fight to grab it. Whoever breaks away with the carcass must carry it around the marker across the field. And then drop the carcass back in the scoring circle. The game goes in rounds; which end when a goal is scored. The person who scored wins a cash prize, and another round begins. Eventually, after several goals, the announcer calls for the final round, when the big prize will be awarded. (The game we saw ended after two hours of play.) These days, buzkashi horsemen aren't so much warriors as they are professional athletes. Najibullah (the guy holding the wad of cash) was the star of the game — and like many Afghans goes by only one name. He is almost as famous as his older brother, 36-year-old Jahangir, who is also a wrestler — common among chapandazes.

Najibullah (left) and his older brother Jahangir are buzkashi celebrities in Afghanistan, and have won tens of thousands of dollars in prize money. Caption Afghanistan Online: Afghan National Sport (Buzkashi) Contact us Afghan National Sport (Buzkashi) Buzkashi, which literally translated means "goat grabbing" is the national sport of Afghanistan. Many historians believe that Buzkashi began with the Turkic-Mongol people, and it is indigenously shared by the people of Northern Afghanistan. There are two main types of Buzkashi, Tudabarai and Qarajai. Tudabarai is relatively simple compared with Qarajai, even though they share similar objectives. In Buzkashi, a headless carcass is placed in the center of a circle and surrounded by the players of two opposing teams. The object of the game, is to get control of the carcass and bring it to the scoring area. Although it seems like a simple task, it is not. Only the most masterful players, (called chapandaz) ever even get close to the carcass.

The competition is fierce, and the winner of a match receives prizes that have been donated by a sponsor. These prizes range from money, to fine turbans and clothes. In order for someone to become a chapandaz, one must undergo a tremendous amount of difficult training. In fact, the best chapandaz, are usually over the age of forty. Buzkashi, is definitely not a game for the weak. The players are not the only ones who undergo arduous training; the horses that participate in buzkashi must train for five years before ever making it to the playing field. Buzkashi, is indeed a dangerous sport, but intensive training and excellent communication between the horse and rider can help minimize the risk of injury. The different types of Buzkashi: Tudabarai & Qarajai In Tudabarai, in order to score, the rider must obtain possession of the carcass and then carry it away from the starting circle in any direction. The rider must stay free and clear of the other riders. In Qarajai, the task is much more complex. The player must carry the calf around a marker, and then return the carcass to the team's designated scoring circle.

In each version of the game, points are awarded for successfully completing the task of getting control of the carcass, and getting it to the proper scoring area. The winner of each match receives prizes which have been put up by a sponsor. The top prizes are usually money, or fine clothes. To many Afghans, Buzkashi is not just a game, it is a way of life; a way in which teamwork and communication are essential to being successful. AQ/1997 Afghanistan national sport of buzkashi evolves in post-9/11 world - ESPN The Magazine comment This story appears in the Sept. 19, 2011 issue of ESPN The Magazine. There aren't a lot of bats, balls or rackets in northern Afghanistan. There are goats, horses, men and dusty plains, and they have been there ever since Genghis Khan and his Mongol horde swept into the neighborhood in the 13th century. Their game, then, is simple. Men on horseback grab a goat from a chalk circle, carry it around a pole and drop it into another circle. No downs, innings, line judges or refs. Sometimes there are teams, and sometimes there aren't.

Sometimes the field is 200 meters by 200 meters, and sometimes it isn't. And the goat? The goat might be a calf, but it's always dead, just lying there with its head and hooves cut off. Grab the goat, bring it around the pole and put it in the circle. That's buzkashi. In buzkashi, every rider is out for the same thing -- getting the goat carcass into the "circle of justice." Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images The game sounds simple until you hang out with Mohammad Hasan Palwan. "Palwan" means strongman in Dari, the Persian language of Afghanistan. That's what people call him. The strongman. For a strongman, he's hardly big like American athletes, not like Ndamukong Suh or Blake Griffin. He's tall and wiry with brown-green eyes and a neat mustache. For an athlete at the top of his game, he's old -- maybe 42 or 43. He's not sure because he doesn't know his birthday. His hands, though, are giant and covered with a thousand small scars.

His fingers are crooked, knobby and gnarled, like a pair of moving ginseng roots. Palwan has broken them all. And his ribs. And his arms. And his legs. And his jaw. Palwan is one of buzkashi's great "chapandazan" -- the men who play Afghanistan's national sport, men who have been riding horses since they were boys, just like their fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers forever back in time. In Mazar-e Sharif, the sport's heartland located 200 miles north of Kabul, Palwan has been the champion 11 times -- four short of his father, who is regarded as the best chapandaz ever. Is Palwan the best in the country? It's hard to say. There is no Super Bowl or Stanley Cup that decides these things. Buzkashi is played on Friday afternoons from November through February or so. I saw my first match in December 2008 in a barren field on the edge of Mazar. Musicians in turbans wailed as hash wafted over a crowd of thousands of men watching from the sidelines.

(Women do not attend.) There were no tickets or uniforms, and anybody could play. That day, more than 100 horsemen wearing Soviet-era tank helmets and hand-worked, knee-high leather boots fought leg to leg in a scrum of horseflesh and cracking whips to pick up a headless goat weighing 150 pounds from the backs of their 1,100-pound stallions. Horses reared, men whipped each other, and spectators fled when the action got too close. Horse owners in the audience offered prizes for the victors: It could be $20; it could be $3,000; it could be a horse or a car. Egos often take over, and the pots become enormous. Palwan remembers riding home from a match 20 years ago with $17,000, earrings for his wife, two camels and five AK-47s. The game is a microcosm of the country, a tangled web of patronage and allegiances, of great wealth, chaos and brutality. It is anything but simple.

"It is," says Palwan, "war." And like all recent wars in Afghanistan, buzkashi is riding a wave of U.S. dollars. America has poured roughly $100 billion per year into the country since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. That money has flowed through the land like water through a sieve, making a number of tribal big men rich in the process. It's fair to say that nothing happens in the regions they control without their collusion, knowledge or profit. And they've found more than a few ways to profit. Some of their money has come from legitimate enterprises -- providing U.S. military and NATO subcontractors protection through dangerous mountain passes, for instance, as documented in a 2010 Senate report -- but plenty more allegedly comes from drug-running and illegitimate kickbacks. While Afghanistan's national pastime receives no financial support from any official U.S. programs, the influx of so many billions of American dollars has indirectly pumped new energy into this medieval sport. “ What was originally a pickup game played at weddings and festivals has become a game of one-upmanship between rich men getting richer and bigger every day.

” What was originally a pickup game played at weddings and festivals has become a game of one-upmanship between rich big men getting richer and bigger every day. Who has the most horses? The most expensive horses, which can cost $50,000 in a country where the average annual wage is $370? The best stable of chapandazan? Players have always been sponsored -- given good horses to ride for the glory of the horse's owner and small profit for the rider -- but now a few have made themselves the world's first professional, full-time buzkashi players. "The commanders, the members of parliament, people who have a lot of power, all want horses and to sponsor buzkashi players now," says Toryalai Kamgar, a former general whose family operates Afghanistan's first commercial private airline. Some have dreams of organizing the sport, taming it, seeing it in the Olympics, the isolated nation and its ancient sport claiming a spot on the world stage. Others think that the country's power brokers are bending buzkashi's already hazy rules in their favor with money and threats of violence and that the sport is getting all screwed up, just like Afghanistan itself.

You can follow the story of buzkashi through its horses. They used to be native, small but strong, quick and brave. Then in 1979, the Soviets invaded. "The Russians shot everything," says Haji Rashid Dara, the head of the Buzkashi Federation in Kabul. "I hid my horse. He wouldn't eat or drink, and I could tell that he was crying. If I ever find the Russian who found and killed him, I'm going to cut his head off." Prized horses bring prestige to sponsors like Haji Ghulam Rasool. Mikhail Galustov for ESPN The Magazine After the Russians came the Taliban. They didn't forbid buzkashi, but they took a lot of the high-strung buzkashi horses, rode them in the summer heat and killed them through neglect. By the time the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance drove out the Taliban after 9/11, few decent horses remained. But then the money, American money, began to flow in, and the tribal big men found themselves in the right place at the right time.

Men like Mohammad Qasim Fahim, currently the country's first vice president, second in power to President Hamid Karzai. He commanded the Northern Alliance forces, and for his cooperation with the CIA, he reportedly received millions of dollars. Flush with piles of greenbacks, Fahim spent heavily on buzkashi players and horses. Other tribal big men who profited, including Abdul Rashid Dostum, Karzai's chief of staff, did the same. And at that point the game became a display of power -- a game of its own. Looking north, they imported horses from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. These steeds are bigger, stronger and faster, and they are changing the sport. A bigger horse means a bigger rider to control it and reach the ground. They can carry a bigger load, so the goats are bigger. At around $20,000 a head, they're more expensive, which means having one -- or 35, as Fahim does -- makes a big man that much bigger. Suddenly, skilled buzkashi players were also in demand. That was clear when I visited Aziz Ahmad, a legendary chapandaz who lives in Kabul.

He invited me into the four-story house his sponsor, Fahim, is building for him. Ahmad is big, with thick, black eyebrows, a black beard and a scar on his temple, his hands crisscrossed with hatch marks from a lifetime of being whipped. As we sat on a red-and-gold carpet in the cool basement of his rising palace, he told me of growing up with little in the faraway district of Kunduz. Thanks to buzkashi, "now I have a car, a house and a full-time salary!" he says. I ask Palwan about all this new wealth. "In the past," he says, "if you won it was for the province." The sponsors have changed the allegiances, the pride. Victory is no longer for your community. "Now it's for the man." The one hard and fast rule of buzkashi is that, during the searing summer months, the horses stay in their stables, allowed only to eat, drink and sleep, getting fat, full and happy. Which is why in July, Palwan and I are in a baked dirt field on the outskirts of Mazar with two cart horses borrowed from a nearby construction site.

They're small and spindly compared with the high-performance beasts used in competition. Toyota Corollas instead of Ferraris. Palwan saddles them up, slides a sandaled foot in the heavy brass stirrup and swings a leg over. He rides at a quick gallop and makes a few tight turns. His horse rears up and paws the air. A crowd of 30 people has gathered to watch us, many of them children. One of them throws a pillow on the ground. The goat. Palwan sticks the whip between his teeth, bends down, somehow reaching from the horse's back to the dirt, and scoops up the pillow. He looks at me, throws the pillow down and scoops it up again. My turn. My horse may be short, but it feels high. I look at the pillow, put the whip between my teeth and am confronted with the fundamental challenge of buzkashi: how to stay in the saddle while reaching for the goat. It cannot be done, it seems. Finally, I clutch the saddle with both hands while a spectator holds the horse steady -- I am almost upside down -- and manage to grab it. Success!

Until Palwan hammer-fists me in the thigh and sweeps the goat out of my hand with a grin. I stand 5'9" and Palwan says, "For short people it is hard. You must know the techniques and be strong and powerful and smart." Then there's the horse. A good horse is strong, quick, fearless and sneaky and knows the game as intuitively as its rider. It can nudge a man with its chest. It knows the goat and the circle. "I can make the horse come down," Palwan says, "not bend its knees, but spread its legs to bring me closer. The horse knows what I want him to do." Palwan teaches tricks to the horses. "I touch his ear and he kicks you!" Horse and chapandaz take years to mature. Palwan, like almost all riders, watched his father play and was forbidden to ride. Too dangerous. He practiced bareback on donkeys and sneaked out to games. He didn't start playing until he was in his early 20s. Horses start being trained at 5 or 6 but don't reach their prime until they're 10 to 15.

There is a saying: It takes man and horse half their playing life to get good. When I can more or less pick up the pillow with regularity, Palwan takes me to the next level. We fight over the pillow. He shows me how to tuck the goat under my leg to protect it and gallop with it. How to stand in the stirrups and lean back at a gallop. How to grab a man's foot by the heel to dislodge the goat from his grip. How to kick a man's toes to eject his foot from the stirrup and send him off his horse. How to sneak a rope from under my saddle to loop around the goat. Most of these tricks are fouls, but who cares. Only one man, the man who hits the circle, gets the bonus. Last year, three sponsors paid Palwan to ride, and he takes me around to visit them and other potential backers. Late in the afternoon, on the outskirts of Mazar, we visit the stables of Haji Ghulam Rasool. There is nothing but dried pancakes of mud as far as the eye can see -- heat, dust and flatness to infinity.

Rasool is building a walled enclosure the size of three football fields. His 10 horses stand roped to their food in the gloam. Rasool imports carpets and has money, but he's also an old-school lover of horses and buzkashi. We sit on a carpet under a rising moon, and Palwan whips out a knife and slices into round watermelons that are deep red. "My father had only two or three horses," Rasool says, "and they were the most famous in the province. But nowadays it's hot, competitive." Toryalai Kamgar has won buzkashi trophies with his network of chapandazan. Mikhail Galustov for ESPN The Magazine In the new Afghanistan, what really sets a man apart isn't cars, women or a big house but those big stallions from the Stans. "You get 10 horses and the other guy gets 11, and then you gotta get 20," says Rasool, slurping on a watermelon chunk. "Twenty Land Cruisers don't make anyone like you, but if you have a good horse, that makes everyone like you." Next we drop in on Kamgar, the former general.

Another wall, manned by two camouflaged guards holding AKs. Kamgar is round with a crew cut and draped in flowing white robes along with huge, jangling gold and turquoise bracelets and rings. He's juggling two cellphones, and Palwan is uncharacteristically quiet in his presence. The general and his brother own an airline, Kam Air, and the chapandazan it sponsors are the first commercially backed players in history. "I spend $100,000 a year on buzkashi," Kamgar says. He doesn't sponsor Palwan but rather his rival, Jaan Geer. Palwan would like to ride for him, but he wants more money than Kamgar is willing to pay. Kamgar lights a cigarette and says, "Let's go see the horses." We pile into his chauffeur-driven Land Cruiser to a sprawling industrial site of tumbledown warehouses with smashed windows and collapsed machinery. Armed guards whip open the doors. Inside the buildings are his 32 horses. Kamgar checks his phones, lights up again and cracks a pistachio from a plate of assorted nuts and hard candies waiting for us on a table. It's 100 degrees. The flies are thick.

"I used to pay my chapandazan $4,000 a year, and now I have to pay them $15,000," he says, "and I don't even know which ones will ride for me next year. Now the chapandazan all want to go to the one who pays them the most. It's hard for the old guys who just loved horses. In the past, only the people whose fathers were horse owners had horses. Now everyone is a sponsor." Kamgar is getting worked up, agitated. He has good money, horses and power -- but he still feels that he's at a disadvantage outside of Mazar, that the playing field isn't always level. "If we play in Kabul and we pick up the goat and put the goat in the circle, suddenly they say, 'No! That's not the right spot,'" he says. "But when a powerful person's rider puts the goat a meter away from the circle, he wins. There shouldn't be politics in sport!" There's an awkward silence. His frankness is unusual in this world of walls and whispers. Sensing the tension, Kamgar changes the subject.

"That horse really likes me," he says, pointing toward a huge brown-and-black animal. "If he doesn't see me for a week, he kisses me. I give him chocolate." Mazar may be the traditional heart of buzkashi, but Kabul remains the capital, where the power resides. I meet with Rahees Khair Mohammad Bai, secretary general of Afghan buzkashi, and Dara, the buzkashi chief. These men preside over the sport just as the government presides over the country, trying to define and regulate a culture that defies regulation. Their positions don't translate to Western sports because they're more like informal advisers in a tribal land than official commissioners of an organized league. Mohammad sponsors six chapandazan and owns 50 horses. Dara also owns 50 horses but sponsors nobody. He has 14 children. "Why would I sponsor others when I have my sons?" he says. “ It's easy to get swept up in the dream of organized buzkashi. Buzkashi in the Olympics. Palwan shilling Gatorade. Wilson making artificial goats.

” Sitting on carpets under Dara's grape arbor, surrounded by rice, bread, yogurt and mutton, Mohammad tells me his dream: He wants to "unite" buzkashi. He imagines rules, referees, formal teams, players and horses rotating in and out. Formal player contracts. A dedicated stadium. Uniforms. Maybe even an artificial goat so it will become acceptable in America. "Everything should be like a football team," he says, referring to soccer. Dara likes the idea of formalizing buzkashi too, but his rise to the top of the sport says it all. "I paid everyone," he says. "I gave gifts. I invited players to games and paid their ways. If you are generous, you become chief." This isn't politicking in the American sense but complex relations of money, patronage and power. The men's titles and dreams notwithstanding, Afghan buzkashi has a long way to go before it's organized and regulated enough to compete in an international arena where real rules apply. It's easy to get swept up in the dream. Buzkashi in the Olympics. Palwan shilling Gatorade. Wilson Sporting Goods making artificial goats.

But when you're out in the chaos of Kabul, you remember that it's a world of blocked-off streets and machine gunners. Just to get into the Kabul City Center, the shiny mall complex downtown, you have to go through multiple locked chambers of bulletproof glass and be frisked. They even have to check your head because you might have a bomb under your turban. The Afghan policeman at the traffic checkpoint might be getting paid by someone else, such as the Taliban, and he might kidnap you or cut off your head. That's the way it's been for centuries -- and the way buzkashi has been for centuries too. It is war, just like Palwan said, and it cannot be set to rules. It is just a game among men who want to grab a goat, put it in the circle and feel the joy of victory. Carl Hoffman is the author of The Lunatic Express . Follow ESPN The Magazine on Twitter: @ESPNmag . The Seanbaby Probe - Buzkashi!

January 28th, 2002 Buzkashi-- Afghanistan's Lovable National Sport The Taliban's insane devil gods won't allow anyone to compete in the Olympics, which puts much of the sports entertainment burden squarely on the shoulders of the spirit of competitive jump-roping in Afghanistan, the Skiperior Hot Dog Squad. I'm the first American to admit that I don't know very much about Afghanistan. I've seen Rambo III a few times, but that only shows the completely awesome Rambo-filled parts of the country. What about the rest of it? I don't want to brag, but I don't really care. I come from a country where there are channels that only show movies about naked girls travelling through time to learn erotic lessons. An Afghani film festival is one eight minute movie of a bearded guy standing in front of a tent full of heroin encouraging viewers to please kill everybody, and after it's over everyone in the audience explodes themselves. The French make public access shows about milk pasteurization that are better than that. I'm honestly not compelled to learn about a country whose main exports are rugs, sweaters, and fucking madmen.

To prove how true that is, name one Afghani team I've heard of that has ever even placed in the international competitive jump roaping games. (Answer above right) There is one Afghani thing everyone should see before their country becomes a smoldering terrorist paste-filled crater, or at least a deeper terrorist paste-filled crater: their insane goat-slinging national sport, Buzkashi. Buzkashi was started in the time of Genghis Kahn, but unlike other sports started in the time of Genghis Kahn like Synchronized Impale the Villager, Horseback Crotch Kick, and Female Horseback Crotch Kick, Buzkashi survived relatively unchanged all the way to modern day, give or take a few million tons of anti-personnel explosives. The first thing you need for Buzkashi, besides a warrior soul prepared for death, is the game ball or "boz." To prepare it, find a goat. Now chop off its head and most of its legs. This probably won't finish it off... Afghani goats are raised on soil composed of 80 percent land mine and require either intense persistence or voodoo to kill.

So after the chopping, you need to submerge it in cold water for 24 hours. This helps toughen it up so the corpse doesn't fall apart during gameplay. And before you ask, yes, this is the exact same technique that Joseph Stalin and Hitler would have invented if they dictated the policy of sporting goods manufacturing and were goats. Above: A piece of Buzkashi sports equipment enjoys its new sweater. Here in America, a lot of our sports equipment is also made from things we tore off dead animals. Footballs, basketballs, and assless leather hockey chaps are all things that used to be wrapped around the organs of some farm animal while it was digesting its own feces. Of course, our animal-flesh goes through extensive treatment processes before we start throwing them around with our dads. This is advantageous for a number of reasons. First, during American sports, there is virtually no chance of a dead goat's intestines popping out all over you in the middle of a game and second, there are no eyeballs hanging off it that can curse us with their undead gaze. Third and maybe the most important-- the ball doesn't decompose into a rancid maggot circus after the game is over.

That means that when American athletes want to get a game together, they can just take a ball out of their closet instead of having to chase down a pig with a chainsaw. The advantages to a non-decomposing ball are clear, so why haven't Buzkashi leagues switched over to an artificial dead animal? Think about it. Right now, our government has the recipe for the everlasting Gobstopper right next to the car that runs entirely on your belief in fairies. But do you think the oil companies or the conspiratorial bastards that make Just Regular Gobstoppers will ever let them see the light of day? If so, then enjoy your graham crackers and leash because you're a retard. Their shareholders would lose billions. It's the same in Afghanistan, only instead of oil companies and Willy Wonka controlling everything, the government is in the pocket of the people in charge of chopping the heads off of goats. If the Buzkashi leagues were to go to a reusable not-just-an-animal-corpse official game ball, the country's goat chopping controlled economy would be annihilated.

So until you can think of some other good reason to remove thousands of goat heads, dream your crappy little goat paradise dream, fruitball. Above: The red arrow points to the hallal, or "Circle of Justice." Next to that is the "Hall of Justice," followed by its enemy, "Doctor Fright's Android Cyclops." Once the buzkashi players have safely removed pieces of their corpse and prepared it for play, they drop it in a pit and draw a circle around it. This is called the "hallal" which translates very radly to "Circle of Justice." Then a massive hoarde of horseback riders crowd around it and grab for it. These swarming horsemen are called "chopendoz" which probably translates to "maniacs on horses, of justice." Whatever crazy chopendoz finally ends up with the dead goat has to hold on to it while he runs it around two poles throws it back in the hallal. It sounds simple, but remember-- this is Afghanistan. While you're running around the poles with your dead goat, the other hundred riders get to try to kill you. That's not a tough sports metaphor-- they really get to try to kill you.

If you think a concussion might make another chopendoz drop the game goat, go ahead and can give him one. Riders end up with shattered noses, dislocated shoulders, broken legs, and our military satellites randomly vaporize one of them from space every twenty seconds. There's no reassuring coach to pull imbedded objects out of your chest and give you a ride to the hospital either. Of course, if you ever get admitted to an Afghani hospital, you'll be lucky to get out of there before they chop you into parts and sell you as sports equipment. It used to be worse. In ancient times, a knife was standard Buzkashi equipment and it was totally normal for riders to just stab each other while they played. There's a reason this country was able to fight off Russian tanks with sticks and ponies for five years -- their national sport doesn't even have a rule outlawing stabbing murders. What I'm trying to say, mostly to the United States armed forces, is that if Afghanistan ever fucks with us again, just drop enough headless goats on them and these crazy bastards will probably finish themselves off.

Countries and Their National Sports, List of National Sports READ Know All the Important Facts about Basketball Canada – Ice Hockey (Winter) | Lacrosse (Summer) Ice Hockey (Winter): Ice hockey is a form of hockey that is played on ice. The two teams are required to shoot goals with a rubber puck by using their sticks. It is the national sport of Canada for the winter season. Lacrosse (Summer): Lacrosse is the national game of Canada for the summer months. In this game, two teams compete against each other to score goals by using their long sticks known as lacrosse or crosse. Four main types of games are played, namely women’s lacrosse, men’s field lacrosse, intercrossed and box lacrosse. Chile – Chilean Rodeo Chilean Rodeo is the national sport of Chile. In this game, a team of two riders and two horses are required to ride laps around the arena and stop a calf by pinning it against some large cushions. The points are given when the steer is driven properly around the corral and faults lead to deductions. China – Table Tennis Table Tennis also referred to as ping pong, is the national sport of China.

In this game, two players are required to hit a ball across the table among themselves with a small bat. Points are scored when one of the players fails to hit the ball back. Columbia – Tejo Tejo is the national sport of Columbia. It requires a play to throw a metal puck across an alley to a board that is covered with clay. The puck is referred to as the tejo. There are numerous regulations that control scoring in the game. Cuba – Baseball Baseball is a bat and ball game that is played by two opposing teams each consisting of 9 players. The teams are required to score the majority of the runs at the end of a game which is comprised of nine innings. It is the official game of Cuba. Dominican Republic – Baseball Baseball is the official sport of Dominican Republic. The game consists of two teams that compete with each other for scoring maximum runs. The opposing team needs to prevent the batting team from getting the runs. Finland – Pesapallo Pesapallo is a very moving bat and ball game that is often called Finnish baseball. It is the official sport of Finland. The game has similarities with brännboll, lapta, rounders as well as baseball.

Grenada – Cricket Cricket is the official sport of Grenada which makes it a very popular game in this part of the world. The game involves two teams with eleven players looking to score as many runs as they can and then prevent the opposition from doing so. Guyana – Cricket Cricket is the official sport of Guyana. In this game, the two teams are needed to score runs by beating the fielding team whose players try to stop their scoring attempts. The team with higher runs wins at the end of the game. India – Field Hockey Field hockey is a type of hockey that is played on the grass or turf field. It has its origins during the Middle Ages. It is the official sport of India. The game is played by two opposing teams with hockey sticks where they are required to score maximum goals. Ireland – Gaelic Games Gaelic Games are sports that are played in Ireland. These include Gaelic football , Gaelic hurling, Gaelic handball and Gaelic rounders. They form the official sports of Ireland. Jamaica – Cricket Cricket is a game that is played by two opposing teams of eleven players each. The teams are needed to score as many runs as they can.

The fielding team members are required to get the batsmen out and stop them from scoring runs. Korea Republic – Tae Kwon Do Tae Kwon Do is a form of Korean martial art. It includes certain aspects of Chinese and Korean martial arts. It is the official sport of Korea Republic. Latvia – Basketball (Summer) | Ice Hockey (Winter) Basketball (Summer): Basketball is the official sport of Latvia during the summer season. In this game, two teams of 5 players each are needed to score a maximum number of baskets within a specific period. Ice Hockey (Winter): Ice hockey is a form of hockey that is played on a sheet of ice. It is the official game of Latvia during the winter months. READ Know about Various Rugby Unions and Global Rugby Zones Lithuania – Basketball: Basketball is the national sport of Lithuania. The game is played by two opponent teams that are required to score as many baskets as possible with the ball before the end of the game. Mexico – Charreria Charreria is the official sport of Mexico and is considered an important part of the country’s culture and heritage. It is a sport that is similar to the game of rodeo.

The game is played with cattle and is participated by both men and women. New Zealand – Rugby Union Rugby union is New Zealand’s unofficial national sport. For more than a century, it has enjoyed massive popularity in the country. Numerous domestic championships are played under it. Norway – Cross Country Skiing Cross Country Skiing is the national sport of Norway. In this sport, the skiers are required to depend on their locomotion gears to move across extended terrains of snow covered mountains. Papua New Guinea – Rugby Union The Rugby Union is the national sport of Papua New Guinea. Peru – Paleta Fronton Paleta Fronton is the national sport of Peru. The sport goes back to the “pelota vasca” that was brought by Spanish conquerors. The game is played with a black rubber ball. Philippines – Arnisf Puerto Rico – Paso Fino Paso Fino is the national sport of Puerto Rico that was developed during the colonial times. They are played with the Paso Fino breed of horses. Slovenia – Alpine Skiing Alpine Skiing is the national sport of Slovenia. In this sport, the skiers are required to slide down the hill in their skis by wearing fixed-heel bindings.

It is often played as a recreational sport. Sri Lanka – Volleyball Volleyball is a game in which two teams comprising of six players compete against each other. The teams are required to ground a ball in the opponent’s court. Points are scored or deducted by following various rules associated with the game. Switzerland – Shooting, Gymnastics, Rustic Dancing Shooting, Gymnastics, Rustic Dancing are games that are regarded as national sports in Switzerland. Shooting is a sport that requires the players to shoot different types of firearms. Gymnastics are sports that require skills in strength, balance, flexibility, endurance, agility and control. Turkey – Turkish Ancestral Wrestling and Jareed Turkish Ancestral Wrestling is a traditional form of wrestling that is practiced in Turkey. It is now considered as the national sport of the country. United Kingdom-Wales – Rugby Union The Rugby Union for United Kingdom Wales represents the teams for these countries. The game of rugby is extremely popular in this part of the world and is participated by numerous teams. United States – Baseball Baseball is the national sport of United States. The game is also widely regarded as the country’s favorite obsession. Numerous teams all across the country play the game in tournaments held all throughout the year.

It’s a strange world of national sports! If you go through the list given above carefully two countries like Afghanistan and Turkey and probably the Korean Republic too have given their traditional sports the status of national sports. Buzkashi is Afghanistan’s national sports and it is probably the only national sports around the world which are played with the help of animals. Most of the Caribbean countries which have declared Cricket as their national sport, but these days the game of cricket is on the decay in these countries. The most stunning thing coming out of the list given above is that none of the Latin American countries has given national sports status to Football, for which they are mad about. Strangely Cuba, which has a very bad relation, politically with the United States shares the same sport, Baseball as their national sports. On the other hand just like Latin American countries, India is still holding on field hockey as their national sports despite it has been a cricket-mad country for more than half a century now and field hockey itself is on the downward trend in the country. Countries like Canada and Latvia have two different national sports for winter and summer seasons.

Know the National Sports of All the Major Nations 2.41 (48.16%) 49 votes (Visited 12,154 times, 1 visits today) Share this: Buzkashi the National Game of Afghanistan Mineral Deposits Buzkashi in Afghanistan Buzkashi is the national game or sport of Afghanistan. Buzkashi is like baseball to the American, cricket to the British, and soccer to the French. This national game is believed to be played in Afghanistan since the days of Ghengiz Khan, the Mongol warrior whose army swept across Asia in the 13th century. The Dari (Persian) name Buzkashy means "goat-pulling" and is played on horseback by two opposing teams. The game is mostly played by Uzbek, Turkmen and Tajik ethnic groups of the region. In Buzkashy, a calf is normally used, beheaded and has its limbs cut off at the knees. Then it’s soaked in cold water for 24 hours before the play to toughen it. Occasionally sand is packed into the carcass to give it extra weight.

Though a goat is used when no calf is available, a calf is less likely to disintegrate during the game. Players may not strap the calf to their bodies or saddles. The rules may vary a little from the north, the home of Buzkashy where there are few rules, to the south in and around Kabul. The game embodies the Afghan's love of horses and the oneness he develops with his trusted stead. It takes years of training to reach the necessary skills to play the game safely. The Afghan proverb "better be a bad rider on a good horse than a good rider on a bad horse" sums up that there is need for the horse to be well trained. When a good rider and horse are one, a player known as Chapandaz is born. There are two types of well-known horses in Afghanistan. One is the "Qataghan" type which is smaller in size but strong and sturdy and the other is raised in the steppes of Faryab and Balkh provinces which are larger in size. The Buzkashi horses are well trained and fast runners which each horse may worth of $10.000 to $15.000.

Riders usually wear heavy clothing and helmet to protect themselves against other players' whips and boots. March 21st is called Nawruz, which is the first day of the Afghan New Year and the start of the Buzkashi season. The finely trained horses proudly trot towards the grandstand as each team of 15 players is introduced to the VIPs and spectators. The headless calf (sometimes a goat) is placed in the circle close to the stand. At the shout and whistle of the referee the Chapandaz (master players) try to grab the goat out of the circles while the rest of the team hover around. The experienced players try to rear the horses, which snort, bite and kick as melee develops. Riders slash the opposition horses and riders with their whip as the experienced Chapandaz try to grab the goat and pull it up to-wards the pommel and then tries to break clear of the melee. Once free, he is hotly pursued and rides furiously to the first corner turning post. The game is at its best as the horsemen with his calf heal steadily races across the face of the mountainous landscape pursued by op-position riders who try to wrest the calf from his grip.

The object is to ride around the corners posts of the field and to drop the calf in the circle. When the Chapandaz breaks free, there is a magical moment of oneness, man, horse and landscape merges. The game usually lasts one and a half to two hours in a highly competitive contest. Buzkashi is usually held in several part of the country including the Olympic stadium in the capital city, Mazar-e Sharif , Faryab, Maimana, and some other parts of the country. Bushkashi game is considered as the toughest sporting game in the world and its a cross between polo, rugby, wrestling where whipping opposing horse riders until they bleed from the face is quite common. Instead of a ball you have a headless goat or calf, and the object is to wrestle, ride, fight until someone gets the carcass clear of the melee and the gallops to the goal (circle) in front of the grandstand and drops it in. The spectators who are males usually watching the game from their seats above the playing field. The wisdom of Buzkashi game passed on from generation to generation in Afghanistan.

On the other hand, the Afghan national game of Buzkashi didn’t only remain in Afghanistan, but the game has found its way to the United States and some other Western countries. Buzkashi - Embassy of Afghanistan Buzkashi Buzkashi Buzkashi: The National Game of Afghanis Exclusively Afghan, Buzkashi as it is played today, reflects the boldness and fierce competitive spirit of the Afghan people. The origins of the game, however, are obscure. What is certain is that the great equestrian tradition out of which Buzkashi developed and without which it should fade, goes back as far as the time of Alexander the Great. Expert horsemen, the nomads of northern Afghanistan fought Alexander's triumphant army to a standstill. When the ancient Greeks first saw these formidable and accomplished horsemen of Central Asia, they believed the legend of the centaur (half horse, half man) had materialized. For any witness of modern Buzkashi, this reaction is easily understood. Before moving on to India, Alexander replenished his cavalry with this sturdy breed of horse. Many people associate Buzkashi with the infamous Genghis Khan.

The Mongol horsemen were adept at advancing swiftly on enemy campsites and, without dismounting, swooping up sheep, goats, and other pillage at a full gallop. One theory is that in retaliation, the inhabitants of northern Afghanistan established a mounted defence against the raids and this practice might be the direct forbearer of today's Buzkashi. As speculative as this story on the origins of Buzkashi might be, it seems a plausible re-enactment of the campaigns of the great Mongol and his Golden Horde in Asia Minor. THE CHAPANDAZ AND HIS HORSE: Buzkashi produces many of Afghanistan's sports heroes. "Chapandaz" (master players) are legendary figures. Joseph Kessel romanticized them to an international level in his novel, "The Horseman." However, Buzkashi demands the highest degree of horsemanship, courage, physical strength, and competitive spirit from its participants. Experience is vital, and many enthusiasts of the game maintain the better chapandaz must be at least forty years old. Aspiring neophytes begin playing Buzkashi as boys. Years of arduous practice are required before one can wear the vaunted Buzkashi cap.

During a game these future chapandaz ride the fringes of the main action, observing all they can. Eventually, the most skilled will participate in the major contests, such as those played on the Daht-i-Shadian (Desert of Happiness) near Mazar-i-Sharif and in the Kunduz Stadium. But the Chapandaz is only half of Buzkashi. In fact, his mount is the more vital element. An Afghan saying that "better a poor rider on a good horse than a good rider on a poor horse" is heard at every Buzkashi contest. As it has for centuries, northern Afghanistan breeds horses of exceptional endurance and speed, both crucial to Buzkashi. Two types of breeds are used for today's game. One called Tartar comes primarily from the provinces of Baghlan, Kunduz, Samanga, Takhar, and Badakhaahan. Small, but very swift and sturdy, these are the horses that so impressed Alexander the Great. Marco Polo, one of the first "tourists" to visit Central Asia, had nothing but praise for the horses of this area.

The second breed of horse used for Buzkashi is Habash, the great stallion of the Turkistan plains. This vast expanse of arid steppes and low foothills, stretching from Mazar-i-Sharif to Maimana, nurtures this breed. In the spring, large herds of these horses can be seen roaming freely over the grass-covered slopes of northern Afghanistan. In addition to these two breeds, there are the Borta, Waziri, Arabi, and the Tazi types, some of which find themselves a place in the games of Buzkashi. The Waziri horses are most often used for Tent Pegging. Horses are also classified for the purpose of Buzkashi from the stand point of colour. There are nine types of colours commonly referred to by "Chapandaz" and Sayez (trainer). These are: Jerand (red), Toroq (dark red), Mushki (black), Kahar (yellowish), Gul Badam (dotted), Ablaq (Mixed) and Kabood (gray). But not every horse enters Buzkashi a novice.

Several years of patient instruction are needed to prepare a mount for the big matches, and only stallions are used. A "Chapandaz" or "mehtar" or "Sayez" (trainer) teaches a prospective horse never to trample a fallen rider and to swerve away from collisions without a gesture from their rider. To enable the chapandaz to pick the calf from the ground, the best Buzkashi horses will push and ram their opponents, forcing their way into the middle of the fray around the starting circle. But when a rider makes the perilous reach down to grab the calf, his horse will stand perfectly still, waiting for the real action to begin. Buzkashi is traditionally played during the winter and early spring. During the late spring and summer, when the weather is too hot for play, the horses are allowed to graze quietly. Their diet consists of barley twice a day, melons in season, and occasionally a meal of barley enriched with raw eggs and butter. A family will sometimes spend half of its savings to purchases a Buzkashi horse.

The wealthier often sponsor a team, providing salaries for the chapandaz and offering cash bonuses for goals scored in a match In addition, many chapandaz own their mounts. Good Buzkashi horses play for as long as twenty years. RULES OF BUZKASHI: The Afghan Olympic Federation has established official rules for Buzkashi. They are strictly observed, however, only for contests in Kabul. In the Northern provinces, Buzkashi is seldom played according to "official" rules. There is no limitation on the size or type of the field and as many as 500 riders may participate in one game. Possible variations on the game include a free-for all in which the individual riders comprise one-man teams, and "darya-yi-Buzkashi" which is played in the middle of a river or stream. There are, however, two rules which apply to every Buzkashi contest. A rider may never hit an opponent intentionally with his whip, and he may never deliberately knock an opponent off his horse. Buzkashi literally means "goat dragging," but a decapitated calf is now used because it is stronger and heavier, and therefore able to withstand the punishment of the game.

The carcass is soaked in water overnight to toughen the hide. The Olympic Federation's rules require the field to be a square, the outer boundary of which is 400 metres on a side and the inner boundary, or warning line, 350 metres on each side. Two circles are drawn on the playing field. The game begins at the starting circle with the penalty lines (the inner boundary) used only when the mounted referee has called a foul. The object of the game is to drop the calf into the scoring circle. Two points are scored for each goal. At one end of the field stands a line of flags marking the minimum distance the calf must be carried before returning to the scoring circle to make a goal. A team crossing the line of flags receives one point. For championship Buzkashi in Kabul, teams are limited to ten riders each. Five players take the field during the first 45 minutes of play; the other five compete during the second period. A field master presides over the match and has the authority to prolong the game and grant permission for a change of riders or horses. The halftime break lasts for 15 minutes.

At the referee's whistle, the teams approach the headless carcass which has been placed in the starting circle. Snorting and rearing back wildly, the horses try to gain an advantageous position so their player can pick up the calf. The chapandaz wear high leather boots to protect themselves from the flying hooves. The boots have extremely high heels which will be locked into the stirrups to prevent falls. To the observer, the game appears to be absolute chaos. The simplicity of the rules is lost in the furious action of the contest, but the highpoint in the game for comes when one chapandaz has bested the rest and gallops to the scoring circle alone. © e-Government of Afghanistan,

Question: Buzkashi is the national sport of which country?
Answer: Afghanistan