The International Jugger Blog

Since the German Jugger rules will soon undergo a revision and rule changes voting, I would like to offer some basic thoughts on the sport and its rules.
Sorry in German, due to lack of time for translation. Many projects currently at hand.

Anläßlich einer wohl anstehenden neuen Abstimmung über und der Überarbeitung des Juggerregelwerks habe ich meinen Kommentar zum Juggerregelwerk um eine Sektion ergänzt. Grund sind die immer wieder auftretenden Diskussionen um Regelveränderungen zu kleinen, oft in der Praxis reichlich irrelevanten Fragen (Beispiel Spielfeldbegrenzungen: ob ein Fuß 20 cm weiter vorne, nämlich auf der breiten Kreidelinie, oder nur dahinter stehen darf, ist für die Schnelligkeit der allermeisten Teams wohl eher gleichgültig).

Hier ist der Abschnitt:

Item. Vom Geist des Jugger

Weniger Normen bedingen eine höhere sportliche Herausforderung.

Jugger leitet sich von einem Endzeit-Film ab. Läufer müssen sich auf die unterschiedlichsten Schädel, alle Spieler auf die verschiedensten Feldlinien – hier präzise mit der Markiermaschine gezogen, dort verwackelt mit Mehl oder Flatterband – jedesmal neu Einstellen: Der mangelnde Standard ist hier kein Mangel, sondern eine willkommene Herausforderung an Flexbilität und sportliches vermögen der Spieler.
Dies kann der Schlüssel zur Lesart der Regeln sein, um den einzigartigen und offenen, gleichwohl sportlich fordernden Charakter des Jugger zu erhalten.

Mehr Eigenverantwortung bedingt höhere Fitness.

Selten führt eine stärkere Kontrolle zu einer höheren Bereitwilligkeit, fair zu spielen, und selten führt sie zu einer bessern Stimmung – und die Stimmung ist im Jugger keine Worthülse, sondern ein wichtiges Charakteristikum dieses Sports. Wo anderswo Mannschaften für ein Turnierspiel zusammentreffen und danach heim fahren, ohne mit einander gesprochen zu haben, wird im Jugger nach einem Turniertag gefeiert, man
sitzt zusammen und tauscht sich aus. Man lebt das Ideal des Sports an sich. Zudem ist ein Juggerspiel schwer zu überschauen (siehe 5. Die Schiedsrichter).

Der Schlüssel liegt also darin, eine Balance zwischen Kontrolle (Pompfencheck, Schiedsrichterzahl und -eingreifen) und Freiheit (eben: persönlicher Verantwortung) zu finden. Persönliche Verantwortung und Fairness läßt sich eben nicht durch Repression erzwingen, stattdessen verführt letztere zum Abladen der Verantwortung auf Dritte (»Der Schiedsrichter ist schuld / hat es nicht gesehen«), zur Suche nach Lücken und Regelfuchsereien, was wiederum zu mehr Regeln und höherer Repression führt.

Ich denke, wir brauchen keinen Rüstungswettlauf im Jugger. Locker bleiben!

Verständigkeit bietet eine Lösung für Randfragen.

Im Forum werden gerne Grenzgebiete und oft Eventualitäten diskutiert: Es könnte doch eine die Kette so führen, es könnte doch einer seine Langpompfe so bauen, es wäre doch möglich, sich durch die Fußspitze auf der Linie einen Vorteil beim Anlaufen zu verschaffen.

Anstelle zu versuchen, jede nur mögliche Regeldehnung abzudecken, bietet sich hier doch eine ganz einfache Lösung an.

Wir haben den Anspruch an uns, vernünftige und verständige Menschen zu sein. Wir spielen kein Zuckerpüppchenfußball, bei dem sei es der dramatischste Fall oder das lauteste Aufheulen nach einem Streicheln mit der Fußspitze am Knie einen Vorteil erjammert, sei es ein gerade wegsehender Schiedrichter dem feigen Spieler eine Gelegenheit zur Körperverletzung verschafft.

W i r     s i n d     J u g g e r.

Deswegen können sich zwei Teams beim Auftauchen von Grenzfragen im Spiel zusammensetzen und sich verdammt noch eins einigen. Ist eine grenzwertige Spielweise für das eine Team gar nicht hinnehmbar, dann verzichtet das andere Team darauf. Fertig.

In diesem Sinne! Bleibt locker. Habt Spaß. Gewinnt euer Spiel.

Uhus Regelkommentar kann hier als PDF geladen werden.

 Here are some more (partly quite unusual) videos from other countries. Thanks to Jugglers Jugg for collecting them!

Halifax




Ukraine


Argentinia


Italia (classical Australian style)


Polish Jugger League (Padding? Who needs padding?)


Czech Jugger League (post-apocalyptical style)

A clip about team Verracos / Universidad de Murcia





Nice recruitment video from Australia




And the great folks from the Wasteland -- really close to the movie




Also, Linus has done an excellent piece again:

After the discussion on the behaviour of a Spanish team has spread, here is a summary of the statements. This is the first time that a team is banned internationally from taking part in certain tournaments in Germany, Ireland, Sweden and the US.

There are official statements from Setanta Ireland Jugger Club, over 60 Juggers of Germany (and other countries), Jugger Vancouver and some individual voices of tournament organizers.
Of course, a statement of TE in the matter would be welcome here as well.

Click on "read more" for details. "Statements banning Tercios Españoles" vollständig lesen

Update: Since creating this article, an extensive discussion on the topic has arisen both in local forums and on facebook, resulting in ban declarations done by players organizing tournaments.

After incidents at the Deutsche Meisterschaft 2014, with an Irish shield player being injured and numerous reports of unfair an unsportive play on the side of the Spanish team Tercios Españoles, a discussion has arisen at the German Jugger forum about the team with over 70 entries right now -- this time not about their history of a fascist team name (historical discussion ⇒ here) but on sportsmanship.

Now players prepared an open declaration to ban the team from German, and even other, tournaments. ⇒ Read it here.
This is the first time a team get's banned from tournaments in a specific country. There had been only one ban of a team in the past in Germany, from one single tournament, and that was due to the heated history between them and the tournament's organizers.

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Addendum: Because of the facebook discussion on refreeing: To understand the uproar, it is important to keep the development of Jugger in Germany in mind (see Uhus books on the history of the sport).
One core feature there is Fair Play. Not the soccer way (hurt them when the ref doesn't look) but real fair play: Jugger has long been a fun sport, with no need for extensive reffing. Now, where it begins to be more and more competitive, German tournaments are handling usually over 25, even over 40 or 60 teams at one single week-end. This means that a team that is not playing has to do the refereeing – it is simply impossilbe to have enough "professional" referees. Not having professional refs is considered positive by many players: More control can mean less personal responsibility, thus less fair play. And the need of playing fair is seen as a crucial treasure of the Jugger sport by some.


Update:
Kaiser, Qwik of the Valencia Ravens, has written an interesting two-part insight into mentality differences that could explain the behaviour that has been critizised. It is in German – sorry. Read it here: Part 1 | Part 2

Update II:
Setanta Jugger club has published an official statement. The complete statement is to be found ⇒ at the German Jugger forum, here.

Read on for more voices and statements in the next entry.

Juggers from all over the world have contributed to the international Jugger documentary project of Runtun Films. Here is the trailer -- nice work! Enjoy!

It took a bit more time than estimated – about two years –, but Ruben has just published his fourth book on Jugger "JUGGER – Das Praxisbuch. Grundlagen, Training, Teambuilding", now focusing on training methods and strategy.
As in Judo and Karate handbooks, step-by-step "motion" pictures show basic steps for fighting with the different German type spars. Football-like plans explain strategic moves. The book has got an impressive, full-color layout and print, hardcover, and is set in A4 landscape format (about 29x21cm).

While the plans for an English translation are unknown, the Swedish one is on the way and should be published by september.

Read more on the pages of the publisher and in Uhus finest-assorted Weblog Droppings for a comment of the author.

Team Murcia Selection has become German Champion at the XVI. Deutsche Meisterschaft in Berlin.
After Rigor II had beaten the former long-year German Champion Rigor I, the Spanish won the finals of the world's biggest championship in Jugger after a fast, tight and excellent game against Rigor II.
Yes, even teams from other countries can win a country's Championship in Jugger!

The XVI. German Championships, which took place the last week-end at former Tempelhof airport Berlin, is second only in size to the same tournament -- also organized by the Jugger e. V. -- last year, in worlds Jugger history. This time, we counted 60 teams, three of which came from Ireland and two from Spain. All in all, over 500 players fought for the German Pokal.

On a side note, team Falco jugger had beaten Murcia Selection at the same tournament, thus beating the coming-to-be German Champion. Quite a nice feeling for the Falco I players, who reportedly only didn't climb to the quarter finals due to the report of two faulty results of two other games with a one Jugg counting error each, of their group. But their group was one of the strongest with four teams at around the same top level, so it doesn't really matter if misfortune during a game or during reporting results would have made the difference.

Two professional photographers were on the field and shot an estimated number of 10.000 pictures. You can find a selection at the Jugger e. V. website.


Foto: sebo

The international Jugger community is a huge bubbling cauldron. But there are always a few who stick out – they care more about the community and Jugger than others, they invest more of their free time, they take responsibility, they are just Juggers  head to toe, they gather competence and experience and let others profit from their knowledge, and, in the best cases, gain wisdom, a feat that is widely underrated (and, often, lacking) but extremely important for any society.

So why not dig out the good old term "Juggermaster", found in the movie near the end when Sallows team challenges a Red City Elite, to honour those who really care and work hard (and are also experienced enough to do so)?

Not in terms of hierarchy, of course, but more as a visible reward. To make the choice a little more objective, short guidelines are added – a reward of any kind always bears the chance of injustice to those who also work hard but get left out, so clear guidelines are important.

The seasoned head of a club is the Juggermaster, although many members might be as or even more active. Sad little world, is it. A Juggermaster should be very experienced in every case: At least, say, 5 years of active training and of participation at Jugger tournaments, having organized a team, club, and/or tournaments, having mastered at least one of the five kinds of spars and knowing all others well, so that he or she can teach how to fight efficiently; having taught many others how to make each of the five spars (and knowing well what is important when making them) and the rest of the equipment.

Uhu created some symbols that can be ironed on jerseys or whatever, reserved for those who earned them according to the definitions; there is also a How-to for ironing patches to shirts. Load the PDF ⇒ here. Read the article about [the player position symbols, with free download of the graphics.]

Explanation: Juggermaster (Club): The head of a stable Jugger group or club and some years tournament experience.
The chain not only represents the unique position in a team, but also the community that stands together – though it does this not necessarily in a row, not at all, but flexible like chain links.

Juggermaster (Serenis): An undisputably extremely experienced Jugger who is an inspiration and a “sage” for the community. Examples: Adam (Brisbane /AU), Siggi (Hamburg/D). Something like 15-20 years of experience as an active Jugger should be expected.
The cogwheel not only represents a driving element of the community, but is also a reminiscence to the atmosphere and, also, the crude, non-standartized currency in the movie.

Jugger Zero or Juggermaster Zero (Founder): One of the very few who introduced and established Jugger in a country. Examples: Mark Hill (Ir), Lester (D), First Ones of HH/KH (D), the predecessor of Adam (+; AU), Ruben (S). For a complete list, see the "Hall of Fame".
The Radioactivity symbol represents the atomic apocalypse, which is the base of the movie. Without it, there wouldn’t have been a Jugger movie and, therefore, curiously even today’s Jugger roots in that apocalypse.

David Webb Peoples: The First One. He invented Jugger from scratch. He is our ultimate icon.

Ruben has finished working at a new Jugger book that will be published at Zauberfeder Verlag.
The typesetter is working hard at it, so we hope to be able to have the book printed soon!
Special thanks go to the Jugger e. V. Berlin for support and to those players who showed basic attacking and defending positions with the different Pompfen.

Publication date is not set yet, but we can already offer a first glimpse on the layout ...

EDIT 2/2014: It has been published!