Quote:
Originally Posted by pr_capone
(Post 7288202)
There has got to be a better way to take seals as game.
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The Early Years of the CSCL
As the “Great White North” was slowly tamed by alcoholic racists like Jack London, seal clubbing began to garner an organized fan base. Much like lacrosse, Caucasians that came into contact with the sport were at first horrified, then perplexed, then confused. They then decided to make it palatable to the White Man by adding a number of needlessly complicated rules and equipment. It was from this mismatched meeting of cultures that seal clubbing as we know it today was born.
In 1903 the first professional seal clubbing club—the Yellowknife Yellowskins—was founded. The team would scrimmage with the local Inuit tribes; it was the popularity of these scrimmages led to the formation of the additional five teams that made up the “Original Six” teams (the Whitehorse Whiteskins, Red Deer Redskins, Armstrong Strong Arms, Saskatoon Coons, and Iqaluit ****ers) of the Canadian Seal Clubbing League.
Seal Clubbing Today
Today, seal clubbing is played on an amateur, semi-professional, and professional level. The sixteen teams of the CSCL make up the 22th largest professional sports league in North America, just beating out Major League Soccer. There are also two “minor” seal clubbing leagues—one based in Canada and another in Europe. Seal clubbing is also the official sport of the Territory of Nunavut.
In addition, the sport will be contested for the first time at an international level during the 2010 Winter Olympics—a major victory for the sport as a whole. Sixteen nations—including the United States, Russia, Germany, and China—have fielded teams, causing the sport’s popularity to increase dramatically.
Rules
Seal clubbing is typically played by two teams of six. Each man is equipped with a club—called a club—as well as clothing conducive to the weather. The teams search out and bludgeon as many seals as possible, with points being awarded based upon the size, age, and relative “cuteness” of the seals. The amount of points varies significantly from league to league, and is also affected by the time of year, and the size of the local seal population.
