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Quickies

Did you know …

• there are records of a harpastum match being played between the Romans and the British natives?

What was pok-a-tok?

As far back as 3000 BC, Mayans and other inhabitants of the Meso-American region played a game called pok-a-tok, in which the ball could only be touched with the elbows, hips or knees. The exceedingly challenging objective was to project the ball through a ring attached to a sloping wall.

Quickies

Did you know …

• the Inuit played a game called asqaqtuk, which involved booting a heavy ball stuffed with grass, caribou hair, and moss across the arctic tundra between goals as much as 10 miles (16 kilometres) apart?

What was pasuckuakohowog?

North American Indians played a soccer-like game called pasuckuakohowog, which means “they gather to play ball with the foot.” It was played in the early 1600s on beaches along the Massachusetts coast with half-mile-wide goals about one mile apart. As many as 1,000 players dressed in disguise and with war paint on their faces participated in these rather violent games, which went on for several days and ended with a feast.