This Week In Violence! is a new feature for the off-season that features one obscure sport or event that has some degree of violence to it. Without a weekly football fix, we need to get our violence and bloodshed quota fulfilled somehow! First on the list for this series is a game known as Kabaddi.

We love violence. We hate to admit it, but we really do. There’s a reason why football, rugby, hockey, boxing, MMA, and so, so many other sports remain so incredibly popular all over the world. Why else do Michael Bay movies do so well at the box office when they are otherwise entirely devoid of plot, characterization, or emotional development? EXPLOSIONS EVERYWHERE. Violence, like it or not, is an integral part of culture all over the world. With no football for an eternity, I’m hoping to find other, more unknown sources for our violence quota between now and then. This week features a game from Southeast Asia known as kabaddi.

So research on kabaddi seems to be a bit spotty, but this game seems to have originated in both southern and northern India in various iterations, and historians believe it to be at least 4000 years old. There’s several modern variations now, all with similar rules. India takes it REALLY seriously, having won gold at every Asian Games it’s been featured in (since 1990) and also all five Kabaddi World Cups as well.

The general gist of the international version of the game, based on a little observance from online, is that there are two teams of seven sent out onto the field; game length is two 20-minute halves with a 5-minute halftime. One team sends a “raider” to the other side of the court, where he has to take a breath, try and tag all the opposing members of the team (to get them out) and then return to his side before inhaling again. The defenders are working to prevent him from returning to his side; this can include tackling, and often does. Bonus points can be scored if the raider can get all the other players out, or if he can cross a line well into the defensive zone, and then return. Teams are alternating between offense and defense so that D gets harder and harder to play the more players get tagged out. Once all players are out, a bonus point is scored for an ALL-OUT, and the team returns in full strength to the court.

At any rate, my quick overview doesn’t do it much justice. Crazy, crazy game!

Here are some of the best tackles from the 2015 season in India. (Side note: I love the announcers’ voices for these. So great.)

Overall, this first example of “violent” sports will probably buck the trend of later videos, as while defending can still be pretty aggressive, overall, kabaddi is still very much a game of finesse at its core. Still a fun spectacle to watch, no matter how hardcore the tackling is! Finally, here’s a full match from archrivals India vs. Pakistan from a while back.

And boy oh boy, I’m excited for what I have in store for next week’s edition…