Wheelchair rugby is entertaining but bonkers. It was difficult to discern at times whether the Carioca 1 Arena at the Olympic Park in Rio was vibrating because of the thumping tunes played at deafening decibels or the collisions of steel.
It’s tempting to describe the game as a sport the Daleks might play for recreational purposes or that it is a human form of Robot Wars. What is easy to accept is why it carries the moniker of Murderball.
That name was appropriated from a documentary made following the ferocious rivalry between the USA and Canada teams in the build-up to the 2004 Paralympics. It was critically acclaimed, winning amongst others things a Sundance Film festival award.
It seemed apposite then to take in Canada’s match against Britain in homage to appropriated knowledge provided by the documentary and a modicum of research. This game takes courage and skill.
It’s a mixed sport. There are squads of 12, with four on the court at any one time. The level of disability is graded and the combined rating of the players on the floor cannot exceed, collectively, a total of eight.
Monstrous hit
As a footnote at this point, one of the women on the Canadian team put in the most monstrous hit of the night, tipping over a male opponent. The ball resembles a soccer ball; it must be bounced or passed every 10 seconds, a team has 40 seconds to score a try and that act is accomplished when a players crosses a line between two cones with both wheels.
Unlike the dodgems at Bray it is illegal to rear-end an opponent or grab them physically and there might be one or two other rules violations but pretty much anything else goes. During the course of the four, eight-minute quarters, that make up a match, five British players ended up turtle like on their backs.
If this happens two members of the backroom staff, come out, one carrying a non-slip mat, which they slip under the wheels to get purchase and then other person lifts the stricken player under the arms to set them upright again. There is a sin-bin too.
There are subtleties to the game. There is truly jaw-dropping wheelchair control and some exquisite passing; but let’s not kid anyone, most come for the demolition derby, the buffeting, banging, boxing in and flat-out, filling-loosening collisions. Wheelchair rugby is a free-scoring, fast moving game and this one certainly didn’t disappoint, the countries tied at full-time, requiring a three-minute overtime period. Canada won 50-49 on the buzzer.
