Horseball
Encyclopedia
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
played on horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
back where a ball is handled and points are scored by shooting it through a high net (approximately 1.5m×1.5m). The sport is like a combination of polo
Polo
Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Sometimes called, "The Sport of Kings", it was highly popularized by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a...
, rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, and basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
. It is one of the ten disciplines officially recognized by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports
International Federation for Equestrian Sports
The Fédération Équestre Internationale or in English, the International Federation for Equestrian Sports, is the international governing body of equestrian sports. It recognizes ten international disciplines...
.
Origins
The sport originated in Argentina in early 1700. It was outlawed in 1790 due to high mortality among players. In 1941 the Federacion Argentina de Pato was created. In 1953 was declared as Argentina's national game. The name of the game "patoPato
Pato is a game played on horseback that combine elements from polo and basketball. It is the national sport of Argentina.Pato is Spanish for "duck", as early games used a live duck inside a basket instead of a ball. Accounts of early versions of pato have been written since 1610. The playing field...
" derives from the use of a live duck instead of the six-handled ball which is used in the modern sport. The game as its known today, including the use of a ball instead of an animal, was defined in the 1930. It gained success and has spread across Europe and overseas. The International Horseball Federation has sixteen members including seven outside of Europe: Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Rules of play
The basic rules involve a team of 4 players (plus replacements offside if necessary) making a minimum of 3 passes between 3 different players of their team and then scoring a goal through a hoop shaped vertical goal. The opposing team can defend by either preventing them from being able to shoot by pushing opponents out of the playing area using their horse's weight or have the possibility to get alongside the players and pull the ball from their hands. In this situation, the rules are that both riders have to remain seated in the saddle and the first to get pulled out of their saddle loses a penalty. On the other hand, if both stay seated then if the defender manages to keep hold of the ball for more than 10 seconds then their teams earns a penalty.Simple tactics of the game involve crossing paths of players in a same team as this method insures that the opposing team send all their defense to one side of the game whilst another player comes up from behind and gets a clear way through the cleared space. Players can also choose to return to their side if they feel an attack is failing and can 'cross' each other, but only if they are players of the same team. This method is quite often used because if a defender is trying to get the ball they usually follow the player with the ball and are therefore going to end up coming face to face with the 3rd player. That however, is strictly forbidden, as in the past head on collisions between galloping horses and riders proved fatal.
International competitions
There are several international competitions organized by the International Horse-Ball Federation the European Championships, the World Championship, and the clubs FIHB Champions LeagueThe European Senior Championship is the older international tournament (the first was in 1992 at Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and wasn't organized by the International Horse-Ball Federation), and there were fourteen editions of this tournament until Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô is a commune in north-western France, the capital of the Manche department in Normandy.-History:Originally called Briovère , the town is built on and around ramparts. Originally it was a Gaul fortified settlement...
2007 (France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), were was the latest edition.
France is the only national team to ever won this tournament and the Portuguese team is the one that has more Silver, and Belgium has more Bronze. And currently the titles are Gold for France, Silver for Spain and Bronze for Portugal.
The First European Lady Championship was disputed at Abano Terme
Abano Terme
Abano Terme is a town and comune in the province of Padua, in the Veneto region, Italy, on the eastern slope of the Colli Euganei; it is 10 kilometers southwest by rail from Padua. Abano Terme's population is 19,062 .The town's hot springs and mud baths are the main economic resource...
2003 (Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
). As in mixed teams version the Lady Championship is totally dominated by the French national team, that won all five editions, but the other teams with most good results are Germany (has more Silver), and United Kingdom (has more Bronze). The latest edition of the tournament was held at Ponte de Lima in 2008 (Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
), and was won by France, United Kingdom won the silver and Spain won the bronze.
The Under-16 Championship (mixed junior teams), is also dominated by France, although Spain managed to win the latest championship and break the French total domination at Ponte de Lima 2008, were France also managed to get Silver, and Italy got Bronze.
The Under-16 Championship is the youngest of the European Championships. The First European championship was held at Lamotte-Beuvron
Lamotte-Beuvron
Lamotte-Beuvron is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France. The town is located in Sologne on the banks of the Beuvron river.Lamotte-Beuvron is served by the A71 autoroute and the Route nationale 20.-See also:* Tarte Tatin...
2004 in France and there were 5 editions of the tournament.
The First World Championship (senior mixed teams), was held at Ponte de Lima in 2008 and was won by France, Spain got Silver, and Portugal got Bronze.
The teams that played in the championship were, France, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Brazil, Great Britain, Germany and Canada.
The first club level organized by International Horse-Ball Federation competition, is the FIHB Chambions League. The First (and so far only) edition of this league was held at Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and was won by Chambly Horse-Ball (from France), the Portuguese team Sporting Clube de Portugal CEJC got Silver and Caramel from Belgium got Bronze. In 2008 the second FIHB Champions League was also held at the Globen in Stockholm and was won by France, Belgium got silver and the C.E.E.C. from Spain got bronze. In 2009, the FIHB Champions League was held in Lyon, France, and was won by the Spanish team Club d'Equitació Esportiva Cardedeu, Caramel from Belgium got silver and France got bronze. In 2010 the Champions League was held in Montpellier, France, and was won by France, CEEC from Spain got silver and Caramel from Belgium got bronze.
In 2010 was held in Portugal the first Four Nations Cup won by the National French team, Portugal got silver and Spain got bronze.