Traditional Sports of Chinese National Minorities - Chinese Rugby-Fire Cracker Ball
中国式的橄榄球——抢花炮
Fire craker ball is a folk sport game with strong ethnic features and it is popular among the Tungs, the Zhuangs and the Mulaos and so on. It is loved deeply by the most of the minorities and a sport belonging to the heroes. It has a firm and strong base in the masses in teh border areas in Xiang, E, Yu and Qian provinces.
抢花炮，是流行在侗族、壮族、仫佬族等民族中的一项具有浓郁民族特色的民间传统体育活动，深受广大少数民族同胞的欢迎，是一项勇敢者的运动。已有500余年的历史。由于有强烈的对抗性、娱乐性和独特的民族风格，在湘、鄂、渝、黔等省边境地区有着雄厚的群众基础，数百年来长盛不衰。
The Tung's Fire Cracker Ball:
侗族人的抢花炮
Fire cracker ball is played mainly in the third days of the third moon or after the Autumn harvests. In the days of the fire craker ball, all the villagers, men and women, old and young will vie with each other in pouring to the level open space in their holiday best when it dawns. Some of them go to courage the athletes of their village, some girls go to for their sweerhearts but most of the villagers want to enjoy the excitement of the game. The village that is in host of the game would first ask the skillful masters to knit three to five glass-mouth-sized circles with the bamboo strips or rattan. Outside the circles are the red piece of cloth wound and tied up firmly with the red and green silk threads. When the hosts declare the beginning of the game the red circle would be put on the gun muzzle and then fire it. In this way the red circle would be shot into the air. Then the athletes would vie for the circle and all at once the audience break into deafening cheers. Sometimes the red circle falls on to the ground, sometimes into the pond or onto the cliffs, the roofs or the branches. But where it falls the athletes would do their best to get it. When the one gets the red circle, he should send it to the judging platform in the temple in the scrambling for it among the athletes and defeat others all. So to grab the first circle would spend about two hours. When the athletes sends the circle to the judging platform, the bells and drums play together all at once in the temple and the gun fires three times to say "the first cracker" finishes successfully. Then come the second and the third crackers. Usually the fire cracker ball game finishes with three crackers but in certain areas they have the fifth and the sixth. After that the bells and the drums play together. In the end they fire the gun three times to say the game finishes.
抢花炮，在农历三月三或秋收以后最为踊跃。在抢花炮的日子里，远近侗寨的男女老少，穿上节日的盛装，天刚亮就争先恐后地踊向岩坪，有的是为了给本村寨的花炮选手呼喊助威，有的姑娘却是为了寻找如意郎君，但大多数侗胞还是去看热闹。凡是主持抢花炮的村寨，事先请编织手艺高的人用青细竹篾或藤条编织三至五个茶杯口大小的圆圈，外面缠以红布，在以红绿丝线扎牢。主持人宣布抢花炮开始时，将红袍圈放在铁炮的筒口上，然后点上火药放炮，红炮圈被射上高空中，各村寨的选手争先抢夺，顿时全场欢声雷动。红炮圈有时落地，有时也可能落到水塘里或悬崖上、屋顶上、树枝上......不论落在哪里，大家总是争先恐后寻找，哥哥奋不顾身，人人勇往直前。谁抢到红炮圈之后，还必须在人人争抢中，“过关斩将”，将其送到庙里的裁判台上才算获胜，因此，抢一炮一般都要争夺两个小时左右。当选手把红炮圈送到庙里的裁判台上后，庙里顿时便钟鼓声齐鸣，并鸣炮三响，以表示“头炮”胜利结束。接着还要进行二炮、三炮的争抢。一般是抢三炮结束比赛，但有的地方抢到五炮、六炮后、钟鼓声齐鸣，鞭炮声不绝，最后放三炮宣告抢花炮活动结束。
The following year's fire cracker ball will be held in the village, of which the athletes have got the first cracker. They have got a red-painted pig and other awards this year and they should prepare these things the next year and this is called to return the "color". If one village wins game yera after year, it says the village will be harvested year after year and that is a village the girls dream for.
凡是抢得“头炮”者，来年的抢花炮活动便由该村寨主办。今年他们得到了一头染红的大肥猪和其他奖品，明年他仍得准备这些奖品，这叫做“还色”。哪个村寨连续抢到花炮者，说明该村寨连年五谷丰登，也是侗家姑娘向往的村寨。
Fire Cracker Ball in Guangxi Province:
广西的抢花炮：
In the game of Fire Cracker Ball in Guangxi province, the cracker is made of the iron rings with the diameter of five centimeters. It is covered with a piece of red cloth or wound with red silk. When the game is going, one of the iron rings is put on the cannon mouth. The gun with powder in it will send the cracker into the air. When the ring falls onto the ground all the athletes can scramble for it with their efforts. The shape of the gun is the most beautiful of Nanning, and Baise, Guangxi province. It is a hexagon pillar decorated with designs and patterns on the six sides. It has three status, the bottom is a bigger hexagon pillar and the corner is inlaid with the edge of the sweet-scented osmanthus. The middle part of it is rather thinner with different sizes of personal images of various postures. The top part is horn-shaped mouth. According to the tradition, only three crackers are done. Those who have got the first cracker will be lucky and contented, which expresses the good desires of the people for the people for a happy life.
广西的抢花炮，“花炮”是铁制圆环，直径约5厘米，外用红布或红绸缠绕，然后置于送炮器上。送炮器即铁炮，内装火药，燃放后即把花炮冲上天空，待花炮落下时参加者均可奋勇争夺。广西南宁、百色两地传统的送炮器的形状最为美观，外观为六角柱形，六边饰有图案、花纹，共分三层，底层为稍大的六角柱，柱角镶上桂花边；中层较细，携有各类形态的大小人像；上层为喇叭状开口。按民间传统，只燃放三炮。抢得头炮者，则万事吉祥如意，这体现出人们对美好幸福生活的渴望。
The traditional fire cracker ball has no limitation on the figure of the athletes and has no division of groups. It belongs to the single-athlete game. The course is usually on the bank of a river or a hill, and there is no boundary. So the course is everywhere. And this requires the athletes more highly. The athletes should have a strong stigma, strong will, stubborn persistence, speedy and flexible reaction and a virtual morality and so on. When the owner of the cracker is determined, the sounds of suona (trumpet), loud cheer, the drums and the firecrackers are ringing together immediately.
传统的抢花炮不限人数，也不分队数，属于“单打独斗”。场地通常设在河岸或山坡上，无一定界限，漫山遍野皆为活动范围。这就对抢花炮者提出了更高的要求。要求抢花炮者必须具有强健的体魄，顽强的意志，坚韧不拔的毅力，快速敏捷灵活的反应，以及高尚的道德品质等。一旦花炮分清得主，顿时唢呐声、欢呼声、锣鼓声、鞭炮声响成一片。
Since the 3rd National Minorities Traditional Sports Meeting, fire cracker ball has been one of the official sports. It is dertermined as the official competition at the Minorities' Traditional Sports Meeting, Hunan province. The reformed fire cracker ball decides the competition time is 40 minutes. It has the first half and the second half. Each half is 20 minutes. There is a ten-minute rest between them. It is not restrained with three crackers. But the result of the competition is decided by the numbers of the crackers put into the opponents' gaily decorated basket within the fixed time. It is competed in the units of teams, of each consists ten athletes. The course is 60 meters long and 50 meters wide. On each of the two ends there is a gun platform range, there is a gaily decorated basket. After pratices for many years, the fire cracker ball is being perfected, the skills and the tactics are developing constantly and the excitement of the antagonistic competition is rising. In order to make it be worth watching and fair, the cracker has been changed into a 15-centimeter-rubber-oblate ring from a 5-centimeter-iron ring, which is similar to the disc in the athletics. So the ethnic traditional sport is identical to the modern competitive sports, and called "the Chinese rugby".
从第三届全国少数民族传统体育运动会开始，抢花炮已成为正式比赛项目之一。在湖南省少数民族传统体育运动会上也将抢花炮列为正式比赛项目。改革后的抢花炮，规定了每场比赛时间40分，分上、下半场，每半场20分，中间休息10分；比赛不受三炮的限制，在规定的时间内，以将花炮攻入对方花篮的次数多少来判定胜负；比赛以队为单位，每队上场队员为10名；赛场长60米，宽50米，两端设炮台区，各放一花篮。抢花炮经过十多年的实践，规则逐步完善，技、战术不断发展，对抗竞争的激烈程度有增无减，为了更具观赏性和公平竞争性，将花炮由原来的5厘米铁环改为15厘米的橡皮扁圆形，类似田径赛的铁饼。因而，抢花炮这项民族传统体育运动与现代竞技体育运动逐步接轨，有人称之为中国式的“橄榄球”。
The Rules of Modern Fire Cracker Ball:
当代抢花炮竞赛规则：
The course:
场地
The course is a plain square lawn or ground, with a length of 60 meters and a width of 50 meters. The width of the line is 12 centimeters. The course still includes the width of the line. The longer line is the side line and the shorter one is the end line.
1.比赛场地为表面平坦的长方形草坪或土地，长60米，宽50米。线宽12厘米。线的宽度包括在场地之内，长线叫边线，短线叫端线。
The area to catch the cracker: to draw a circle with a radius of 5 meters using the core as the center of the circle as the area to catch the cracker.
2.接炮区。以场地的中点为圆心，画一半5米的圆圈为接炮区。
The area of the platform: to draw two lines in the distance of 4 meters to the two sides away from the center of the end, the two lines should be vertical to the end line, then draw the third line which is paralleled to the end line to link the two lines mentioned just now. The area of the gun platform is made and on the two sides there is a net wall which is beyond two meters high.
3.炮台区。在距离端线中点两侧4米处各向外画一条4米与端线垂直的线，再画一条线把其顶点连起来，与端线平行，这个区为炮台区，在炮台区两侧架设高2米以上的网墙。
Penalty area: to draw a parallel line to the end one with a length of 20 centimeters and a widlth of 12 centimeters as the penalty line to use the central point as the center of the circle. The widlth of the line is included in teh area of the two meters distance to the basket rack.
4.罚炮区。以端线中心点为圆心，划一条长20厘米、宽12厘米平行线，为罚点炮线。该线包括在距离花篮架的2米之内。
The Apparatus:
器材
The cracker: the cracker is a disc-like colored ring with a diameter of 14 centimeters. The outside circle is like a tyre. It is made of rubber of 2.5 centimeters to 3 centimeters thick with a weight of 20-240 grams, which will not hurt anyone.
1.花炮。花炮为直径14厘米的彩色圆形铁饼状，外圆呈轮胎形，厚2.5厘米至3.0厘米，用不会伤及队员的橡胶做成，重20-240克。
The shooting machine (gun): it is the shooting machine which can send the cracker to a height beyond 10 meters and then makes it fall into the cracker-catching area and sounds.
2.送炮器。能把花炮冲上10米以上高度并落在接炮区内能发出声响的发射器。
The basket rack: the rack is 80 centimeters high and set in a distance of 2 meters away from the central point of the end line of the gun platform area. The rack is made of wood within a diameter of 20 centimeters.
3.花篮架。高达80厘米，放在炮台区内端线中心点的2米处。花篮架用直径不超过20厘米的圆木做成。
The basket: it is a cylinder with an inside diameter of 40 centimeters and a height of 30 centimeters. It is made of bamboo or plastic.
4.花篮。篮口内沿直径为40厘米，花篮高为30厘米的圆柱体，用竹或塑料做成，花炮固定在花篮架顶端。
The athletes:
队员
There are two teams in each match, of each there are athletes not more than 8 or less than 5. One is the leader. The substitution of the players should not be more than five times.
一场比赛有两个队参加，每队上场人数不得多于8人或少于5人，其中1人为队长。全场比赛替换队员不能超过5人次。
Competition:
比赛
no matter which side gets the cracker, they can break into the opposing platform area with the methods of pass, screen, false actions or run etc. The other side can grab the cracker from the opponents and prevent them from progressing with the methods of intercept, clog, pursue, hold (means to hold the reasonable parts of the body) and steal etc. The one who holds the cracker passing the end line to the opposing platform and throwing the cracker into the opponents' basket wins a goal. One goal for one in. When the cracker is in, the gunman will shoot again. But if the cracker holder put the cracker into his own basket by mistake the opponents will goal.
无论何方抢得花炮，可用传递、掩护、假运动、奔跑等方法，力图攻进对方炮台区；另一方可用拦截、阻挡、追赶、搂抱（合理部位）、抢截等方法，抢到花炮和阻止持花炮运动员前进。持花炮运动员越过端线进入对方炮台区，把花炮投入花篮内即为得分。每投进一次花炮得一分。进炮后，由司炮员重新发炮。持花炮队员误将花炮投入本方花篮内算对方得分。
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