Vignette: Let–s play Buzkashi!

What would you do if you were dying to play a game, but were stranded on a treeless steppe with little else but horses and goats? A slightly grisly solution would be to behead the goat, disembowel it, cut off its limbs and then use it as a ball in a game that is a cross between polo and rugby. In Afghanistan they call the game Buzkashi, and it happens to be their national sport. Buzkashi literally translates as ‘goat grabbing’. It’s played on horseback and the aim of the game is to grab the carcass of the calf, and then get it clear of the other players, or pitch it across a goal line. There are two different types of Buzkashi—Tudabarai and Qajarai. In the former, to score the rider must obtain possession of the goat and then carry it away from the starting circle in any direction, while in the latter the player must carry the goat around a marker and then return it to his team’s designated scoring circle. Sounds simple enough, but requires a lot of skill—expert players, known as chapandaz, require years of training, as do the horses. The game has few rules—most riders carry short whips which they use not only to whip their horses but also the other riders, especially the one carrying the carcass. Casualties are not unheard of, though the use of knives is apparently discouraged. Definitely not a game for everyone. For the descendants of Genghis Khan, though, it’s a way of life and, er, death.