To the Roots of Jugger!

Christian Nam Nguyen Vu

It was a pleasure to meet Christian on his visit to Brisbane and I am sure an interesting challenge for him to find our rag tag crew of Juggers in the middle of a strange park in a city he was not familiar with, luckily enough he was wearing the distinctive Rigor Mortis red and black when he came to meet with us in the park.

As someone who has been playing for a number of years (13 this year) in a part of the world where we don’t get many visits from out of town juggers, yes I think you should all hop on planes and come visit Australia, it is always interesting to me to see what people think of the rules and game that has developed here. So when Christian came to visit us from Berlin, around the time I was first thinking of the idea of the 9 cities, I thought it was a great chance to get someone to write down what they though of the experience of playing with a group they had never met and rules they had not encountered before and now on to Chrisitan’s experience of Jugger in Brisbane

Photo: Ben Droste

I did not quite know what to expect when I came to New Farm Park to have a training session with Adam and the other Australian Jugger players an older Jugger  had told me:

“They are fat, unsportive and a little chaotic.

But in the end they are really friendly”

This statement turned out to be untrue (well the first part), after meeting the Australian Jugger players the game started, everything was really different but still familiar. A few different rules, slightly different spars / pompfen but in the end it was the same process. Anyway, it was Jugger!

The people were really friendly and warm hearted (we even went to have dinner together) and the training was fun! I was surprised that there were so many people that joined us even if they did not know the rules. There were even kids games! It was really fun to see them play, the raw energy and enthusiasm they have in their playing, something that the adults do not show anymore.

Photo:Ben Droste

I am really glad to have been there and I would love to see some familiar faces in the tournament in Germany next year!

Playing Jugger in Australia is different than it is in Germany. Obviously the rules are different, some were cool and some were confusing. The best rules for me were the sitting rules: Only three or five stones to sit! That makes a huge difference in the actual game. While we sit for five or 8 stones in Germany, the round has ended before the actual round in Australia started. The shorter time draws more attention to the fencing aspect of the game. (I)

Something that was completely new for me (I did not see the movie yet) was the runners circle. It was almost like Wrestling but less violent. I liked to see that the qwiks could do more than just waiting for the enforcers. (II)

Photo:Ben Droste

One rule that I both liked and disliked were the blocks. As an enforcer I lose my hitting zones against other enforcers. But it might be useful when the qwik is fighting the other qwik and an enforcer comes up. The blocks could give the qwik some time to stop the other qwik from placing the skull. (III)

Confusing for me were the pinning and mutual rules. Since it is allowed to pin everyone in Germany it gives you an advantage if you are the only standing enforcer. That means that the most dangerous spar, the chain, is out for a while. (IV)

Photo:Ben Droste

Mutuals were killing me in Australia. For me it's like this: The other enforcer is more skilled than I am but I can still mutual him, so the both of us are out and the other enforcer isn't a danger anymore. That opportunity doesn't exist in Australia. As a shield player it was almost impossible to get the chain (even without their little spar that I didn't like either). (V)

A mix of the German rules and the Australian rules would be quite cool.

A quick and dirty explanation of the Australian rules discussed above.

Yes I am feeling in a little bit of an academic / pseudo latin mood today so all notes are in roman numerals… this means absolutely nothing juggerwise just a random whim on my part.

I In the Australian rules being tagged with a spar / pomfen is penalised with 3 stones out of play and being hit with the ball of the chain by 5 stones (the chain itself does not count as a hitting surface)

II The circle in the centre of the field is out of bound for enforcers until the Jugg or one of the qwiks is completely out of the circle, this has a double impact on the start of the game first it adds direct competition between the two qwiks (more so than the European game) and second it breaks the team lines around the circle calling for some changes in tactics.

III The Australian hit zone is smaller than the European version – in Australia the forearms/hands and shins / feet are not counted as hits and can be used to block hits making it more difficult to hit and easier to defend.

IV Pinning: In the Australian game a pin must be applied within the first stone after a player has been hit. As opposed to the European game where pins can be lifted and re-applied for strategic advantage the decision must be made immediately as to who will apply the pin and who to. 

V Doubles/ Mutuals: A double in Australia is two hits at the same time, some versions of the European game allow a small gap between one hit and the next to count as a double (possibly longer in the case of the chain) where the Australian, and Irish, version of the game requires the two hits to land at the same time. As a further difference in the Australian version of the game the result of a double is that both players stay up, the European game has both players go down.