Valencian pilota

Have you ever thought to yourself, you know I really like squash but I wish the ball were smaller and harder, the court larger, the racket smaller, that betting was involved and that you could injure spectators? Well, if you have, then do I have the sport for you! Pilota is a Valencian sport of historical significance which is currently mostly watched by old men betting a minimum of 50 Euros on the game (the game we went to see in the Triquet de Pelayo near the old train station in Valencia). Here is a photo of Matt protecting his face with the provided blocker (you take two- one to sit on and one to protect your face):

We didn't bet (50 Euros was a bit rich for a minimum bet and everything was communicated in the local Valencian dialect) but we did sit close to the action. Here is a shot of one of the players bouncing the ball off our seating directly in front of us:

The game has many variations and can be played outside in the street (one where the windows all have shutters) or inside, in a specially built trinquet. There is a net in the middle of the court and the ball can only bounce once on either side. The ball is made of leather and is hit with your hand (wrapped in leather and some sort of metal plate). The game we watched was two vs. two. The game is very fast and the ball is painful. Wikipedia has an explanation of the game, if you actually want to know the details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valencian_pilota and here is a pretty good Youtube video of a game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhwBggw1bEM where you can see the audience sitting on the court.

I was intrigued by items not so crucial to the rules of the game. Case in point the photo below:

In this photo you may notice the man in pink near the net at the center of the court. He is both the referee and the man in charge of betting who takes money and decides on the odds (they change throughout the game). I see no possible conflict of interest here. You also see a door beside him- this is the door to access the bathroom, which you can easily do- you just have to cross the game while it is happening. There is only a men's washroom here- ladies generally don't watch the game so you have to go further afield to find one.

Finally, here are the men, collecting their winnings after the game. All in all a worthwhile thing to check out for some local flavour!

Other weird sports here include paddle- a variation of tennis played as indoor soccer. Highlights include running out of the room when the ball goes over the wall to hit it and keeping it in play, running back inside and continuing.