"I am Jugger" is the upcoming documentary prepared by Alejandro Asensi Barbera. He currently raises funds through IndieGoGo to realize this quite impressive sounding project, which should become very international:
I am Jugger follows Jugger players all around the world and will share the lives of these young athletes; their impressions and styles of play, capturing the passion they feel for this sport and show the differences to other major sports and the activity in different countries like Spain, Germany, Ireland and United States. We travel with a select group of jugger players to the World Tournament in Berlin, where they will try to win the ultimate prize in this relatively unknown sport.
We will see different explanations of the rules, styles and strategies used by different teams, and follow them as they train and prepare for games together.
(Just a word of warning, IndieGoGo seems to think that eating processor time through shiny app overload is a good idea).
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.
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. 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.
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 their time, they take responsibility, they are just all Juggers from head till toe, they gain competence and experience and let others profit from their knowledge, and, in the best cases, their 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 big club is the Juggermaster, although many members might be as or even more active. Bad little world is it.
I would say, 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 teached 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.
I created some symbols that can be ironed on jerseys or whatever, strictly reserved for those who earned them according to the definitions of course; see here (also included in the newest update of the free English Jugger book).
Explanation: Juggermaster (Club): The head of a stable Jugger group or club with more than one team 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).
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).
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 ...
And en gång till: Recently, short lesson clips on how to play Jugger Pompfen/spars/pompårna popped up at youtube. Both settings are quite alike (and good for learning) but are done, in fact, on different continents: In Australia and in the U.S.
They are especially interesting for the beginner, but even the more experienced players may learn a bit! Enjoy.
I would like to recommend two web pages that I think are quite interesting:
The Nine Cities is a weblog done by Adam, Urgestein of the Australian Juggers. Adam does a fascinating job by interviewing players all over the world on Jugger, and, moreover, doing his famous BBQ reviews (tournament reviews). A vera good site indeed, often full of humour, and sometimes with quotes of unintended truth behind the openly visible words ... (and no, I explicitely don't mean the quoted Australian players character by "truth", because that is just the "visible" meaning which is a no-go. Words are cunning).
- Now we are an official (legal) sports association, and we have some support from the government.
- We have a lot of new members and some new teams that play Jugger every Saturday.
- We have a new ranking system.
- The Colombian Jugger League is a reality; we are beginning with the team sing ups on 1st January.
- We are improving a lot our training scheme, and the results are notorious.
(via e-mail from Speculum Alae)
Keep it up!
Sverige We are working hard since September in establishing Jugger in Sweden as well, under the "working title" Järnfalkar Projektet. The start sounds quite promising:
and regular trainings are held in the village of Järnboås every monday and at irregular intervals at sundays as well, for adults.
Furthermore, new Jugger teams and activities can be coordinated via the Svedish Jugger platform http://www.jugger.se.
Espania
The Spanish Jugger community is strong as ever – they are quite young but already made an impact. They even participated in the 3rd German Open with many teams and gained high respect for their well-trained style of playing.
Furthermore, some German teams will participate in their 2nd International Tournament in 2013.
Australia
Jugger is also spreading in Australia. Of course, they visited us at the 3rd German Open as well!
Eire
Irish Jugger are still in full go. They also competed in Berlin.
Nederlands
Jugger has also been started in the Netherlands. It will be interesting to observe their development!
U.S.
It is hard to say something precise on the development in the U. S. There are very active groups of the post-apocalyptic branch with the CUJL (see flickr), juggersalute is down, and it is unclear how far the sports branch got until now.
(Not so) finally, Deutschland
Jugger is still growing rapidly in Germany.
It is reported that more and more schools and youth projects are starting Jugger groups. New independent teams are popping up almost every month now.
Therefore, the 3rd German Open / 15. Deutsche Meisterschaft, held on the Tempelhofer Feld (former airfield) in Berlin, was the biggest tournament in history, and even exceeded its predecessors by one third: 62 teams plus 4 youth teams came together for this huge traditional Jugger Championships, and considering the many hundred players on the fields, it is reported to have worked exceptionally well.
Also, towns are already competing for the best week-ends to hold tournaments – there will be many week-ends now which are double- or triple-booked for tournaments.
Berlin, one of the first Jugger towns, might now possibly have even four big tournaments, after a branch left the Jugger e. V. to form their own group: The traditional Berliner Juggerpokal; possibly the traditional Deutsche Meisterschaft (if Berlin applies this year again and is elected); maybe the Freundschaftliche Winterspiele (not confirmed yet); and the new new Jugger Masters 2013 - Der Kessel von Berlin, a special tournament.
At the end of this entry, enjoy the expectional clip from the Hallesche Doppelsöldner, and below the famous ambient clip from Falco jugger Freifalke Linus.
I would like to recommend a look at the German Jugger forum, which is very detailed.
Other countries
There are other countries like Polska (see former entries in this weblog), but I don't have first-hand news on them now.
Uhus News
In other news, Uhus Jugger weblog, the most detailed weblog on Jugger until then, is closed now, since I am changing weblog software and will probably blog mostly on Jugger i Sverige after relaunch. The old blog will be still available, though.
Uhus Rulebook Comments (Das Juggerregelwerk – Uhus Kommentar)
After I have quit my "assignment" as Keeper of the German Jugger Rules in 2012 which I had since 2007, I have compiled Uhus Comments on the Jugger Rules (updated just in the last days). Many questions came up in the forums, some things were misunderstood, some phrases are not exact, and some details are better explained in an external comment instead of in the official rules document itself.
While the Jugger Rules are "officially" legitimated by an election process by the whole active German Jugger community, this comment barely shows my personal views and opinions on the matter, but makes it possible to point out potential flaws or misunderstandings.
Uhus Comments on the Jugger Rules ⇒ can be downloaded here in German.
A new Jugger book
Furthermore, I have just finished the work on a new Jugger book, my fourth now (not counting the free PDF ebook in English). I have highest expectations for this one for it could become the best book on the topic I was able to publish yet:
Thanks to my fellow Juggers from Berlin, Greifswald and Jena, I could take many hundred "stop-motion" photos on basic fighting techniques. The book will be a bit like those Judo/Karate factbooks where every move is shown, to enable unexperienced players to quickly grab the basics of Jugger duelling and play. Even more experienced players might find interesting bits, for I could win some of the most experienced German Jugger players for the job. Every (German) Pompfen type will have it's own chapter and also chapters how to fight against other types. And of course, strategy and teamplay also get their due share.
I am now waiting for the preprinted proofs from the publisher, so i hope the book shall be released this spring, at Zauberfeder Verlag: Ruben Philipp Wickenhäuser: Die Jugger-Schule. Training, Taktik, Teambuilding, Zauberfeder 2013.
If you learn of Juggers in other countries, don't hesitate to contact us! Thanks!
So now, a happy new year with tons of Jugger games!
Time for the Videos – cheers!
First, I did them just as little symbols for my personal, more general use in Jugger-related topics.
But then I made patches out of the graphics that could be ironed on jerseys ... and they became quite well! A team already asked for a set of those and it worked fine; so if you want some as well, just send me an email.
The first training in Jugger in Sverige known to me will be held at the upcoming monday, September 24th, by Järnboås IF at Järnboås fotbollplan, kl 18.00.
It will be just an easy little "what is this??", and hopefully will spark some first enthusiasm about Jugger in the Swedes, ancestors of the good old vikings ...
Interested people from Örebro eller Nora är välkommen.
Bring gloves.
Addendum: Success! It has been a nice session indeed.
Explanation:
Recently, short lesson clips on how to play Jugger Pompfen/spars/pompårna popped up at youtube. Both settings are quite alike (and good for learning) but are done, in fact, on different continents: In Australia and in the U.S.
Gott nytt år, frohes Neues und happy new Year 2013!
We are working hard since September in establishing Jugger in Sweden as well, under the "working title" 
