making it happen

otherwise known as "organising a tournament on a non-existent budget" 101

The SA Rogue Squadron hosted their very first national tournament last year November, and it was a smash! In more ways than one. The spectators who actually did brave the threatening weather were rewarded with some really good buhurts and profights.


But I'm not here to talk about the amazing tournament, who pitched up, who won, or who lost. I'm here to talk about everything that went on before that. You see, there is a lot of work that goes into the preparation of an event.

In fact, there is so much work to be done that when I thought about writing this post last year (when it should have been written!), I instantly felt my eyelids drooping, and went and did some dishes instead.

Yes, I have been very tardy with the posts, and I'm sorry about that. Things have been busy, and we have a number of potential developments in the pipeline at the moment, I'm happy to say. I just don't want to talk about them until I know for sure that they are going to happen for sure.

Anyway, back to the tournament organising mission: first, you need to make sure that you have people who can do everything except fight. A good team of marshalling and support staff is essential to any tournament. More so, even, than a venue, I reckon. Without the marshalls, there is no tournament.

For Head Marshall, you need to find someone with combat experience, and with marshalling experience (preferably), and who is knowledgeable in the ruleset you want to base your fights on. As if that isn't enough already, you should also look for someone who is fair-minded, lives with integrity, and who knows how to handle people. Now, when I say that, I don't mean they must be a diplomat. I mean "handle people" as in get them to do what they should be doing. Whether that is through talking or using a baseball bat from behind a bar, it's really not much difference, as long as that person can do it fairly and consistently. Then you need to put that person in charge of the marshalls and support staff. Your Head Marshall will need to train his or her team, and prepare them in their roles for the tournament.

Let's hold for a moment to look at one point here. That is delegation. If you want to run a successful tournament without becoming an exhausted, nervous wreck, then delegation will be necessary, and even then, you'll still be pretty damn frizzled by the end. Delegation doesn't mean getting random people to do your job for you. It means entrusting the most skilled person for that task with the responsibility of getting it done. So instead of training up a marshalling team, you entrust that duty to the Head Marshall, who is most qualified to do the job.

And once you have set that team up with a head and an agenda, you need to hand over authority on the day of the tournament to your Head Marshall. This is an important part of building the legitimacy of a tournament because you can't have a marshalling team that still has to check with you on whether they can red card someone, especially if you have also decided to take part. Fighters will question the validity of the calls the marshalls make, and their fairness and integrity. If you are constantly telling the marshalls what to do, it will not be a fair tournament.

Our marshalling team was really new. Our Head Marshall, although she had had experience at IMCF earlier in the year, still felt insecure in her position because she was constantly being called into question by a fighter who - in another context - has some small measure of authority over her, and so she did not have the confidence to make the difficult calls every time. It was torture for me to stay quiet and not get involved when I could see that the marshalls were getting pushed around. However, I felt that I had relinquished authority, and as the host and as a fighter, if I started to meddle, even if it was to back up the marshalling team, it would affect the fairness and credibility of the event. They were all fair and consistent in their calls, so that was not a concern for me, and I felt that it was a learning curve for them, to need to stand up to rude and unruly fighters, which they did, eventually.

You need to let go, once you have given someone authority, and trust that they will do their job, even if it isn't exactly how you might do it. That's an incredibly difficult skill to learn, and worth mastering.

Next, you need to find a venue with toilets, level ground, shade, a water source, and beer. Those things are the essentials for a successful event. You can bring in lists and seating, if you want them, along with a bunch of other comforts, but those five things are the checklist for your venue. Also, a free venue is great.

Picking a date is very important, and it should work alongside your choice of venue, because you need for your venue to be available over the dates you are looking at. If you are very far away from the action (ie, not in Europe), then you will need to consider the three biggest events (Dynamo, IMCF, Battle of the Nations) in our sport, before deciding when to have your event. Too close to one of those, and you are likely not to get very many participants at your event, especially if they have to travel to get to it. It takes roughly two days to travel one way to an event from anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere. Sometimes it takes longer. Bear that in mind when you are looking for attendance.

Also, consider the weather, and the likelihood of rain, if you intend to hold it outdoors. Of course, a little rain never held up a buhurt, but if you plan to charge entry, there may be a problem, unless the spectators in your country are hard as fuck and will come out in rain, shine or snow, to watch people beating the crap out of each other with weapons. I think the Poles, the Kiwis and the Auzzies may be like that. For everyone else, there's the almanac.

Looking at costs, I think it's important to mention that we in South Africa are entirely self-funded. We get no sponsorships from the private sector, and we get no crumbs from the government. Our sport is not even officially recognised as yet. But let's not go into the politics of it. In terms of money, there is none where we are. So if you have a similar condition, listen up.

If you are smart and can make a deal or two, your costs will really be your medals, your advertising and marketing materials, and meals and drink for your marshalling team, commentator and DJ.

In terms of the venue cost, we used a space for our lists at a local market. We charged entrance (which was funny because we had no doormen - we just periodically announced that people who didn't have a wristband for the event should come to the announcer's stand and get one as entrance was R50 per adult and R10 per teenager, AND THEY DID!), and split it with the venue owner. The venue also had stalls and made some money off the spectators, so it was mutually beneficial. This is the kind of deal you want to aim for, so that your initial financial outlay is reduced.

The sound system and wrist bands were donated by some dear friends of ours, who are enthusiastic supporters of our sport, and who have hosted the Combat Pit Tournament Series at Mad Monks for the last couple of years. And Matt the Goat manned the DJ box in between marshalling.

A note here on music: don't play flea market music. Creedence Clearwater Revival is way too laid back, even if it is at a market. We've found, though, that you don't really need a playlist, so much as just music. So, we put on the Percival discography and let it play. It was great. Even the very mainstream spectators didn't complain.

Our commentators were friends chosen for their oratory ability, who did the job for a meal.

Friends of ours who do murals and signage came past early in the morning and put some scaffolding together for the photographers to stand on to get a good view of the fights. We had invited members of the press, and hoped that they, along with the local photography club, would arrive. Sadly, the rain kept them away, but the "press platform" still served its purpose, and various spectators got some good footage and stills, and kindly put them onto the interwebs for us to see and use. You can see them on the Rogues' page.

It's worth it to mention that we didn't need the sound system, wrist bands or music or commentators, or "press platform", but they all help to make it an enjoyable, accessible event for the spectators and fighters, in different ways. The spectators expect a certain level of formality with sporting events, and unless someone is calling their attention to things over a microphone, they tend to view the whole event as somewhat less than legit. Everyone loves music as a background which sets the tone for the event. Action without a backing track isn't nearly as exciting, and in more practical terms, it helps to be able to announce the different categories to fighters, and let them all know when to get ready, without sending a runner to each team, or shrieking at the top of one's lungs. And photographers need some kind of vantage point from which to take photos and videos safely.

We bit the bullet and actually did spend money on medals, since it is kind of expected that there is some form of loot once the fighting is done. That's just tradition going back to way before Lindisfarne, even.


And I think that if you're going to do medals, make them good. Don't get the tinny ones that weigh nothing and feel like cheap shit. They don't have to be enormous, although as with other things in life, bigger is better in this case. But they should have a little bit of heft to them, and some kind of marking, like a sticker or a bubble, to show which event it was. The mistake we made with our medals was that although we got nice medals, the ribbons were crappy, thin, and tied together at the end, where they were frayed, instead of nicely finished off. So that was a little disappointing, but it was something to learn from, and not a tragedy in itself.

Once you have the logistical mechanics in play, (venue, date, marshall team), it's time to look at advertising and marketing your event. This is not just to spectators, but also to the fighters you want to attract to your event. We used a series of meme-like ads that were aimed either at norms (non-fighters) and fighters to raise awareness about our event. We used social media as our primary medium for advertisement. We also had some flyers out in the city, but we couldn't afford the street posters we wanted to put up. We also had an idea of handing out flyers at intersections whilst in armour, but it was vetoed because of the heat at the time.

There are a number of ways that you can promote your event, but whichever way you do it, remember that you have TWO markets - the spectators and the fighters, so you must tailor your message differently to appeal to each group, and use media that is appropriate to the message.

Once you start getting the shape of your event together, you need to send out registration forms to the fighters. The best way to do this is to make the reg forms downloadable from your website, and then to send them to other clubs and organisations in the area, who have fighters who are most likely to attend.

Make them simple, easy to use and fill in, and don't make them pdf format.

You will have of course decided what categories you want to offer at your tournament, so make sure that those categories are very clear to the fighter. Do not just put a category of 5v5 buhurt if you have a problem with mixed teams. These days, if you only want men in the teams and women in other teams, you will need to spell it out. If you are fine with mixed buhurt, then it must say "mixed buhurt" on your reg form. And similarly with 1v1 categories. Also, don't forget to specify the ruleset you will be using, on your reg form, so that it does not take anyone by surprise. You never know.

Before the tournament, it is a good idea to make available on your page any other documents that you will be referring to during the tournament, for example the ruleset you will be using, the rules for the event venue, if there are any, accommodation prices, food prices and menu, and any specific code of conduct or other information that fighters will need.

When deciding on a final deadline for registrations (and this was some good advice given to me by my friend Laurent), it is best to have a "soft" date (the official one) and a "hard" date (the very, very last date by which you need numbers, for logistical purposes). Expect to have to chase up registrations, as well.

When deciding your schedule, allow a buffer period of time between bouts, and for a changeover of categories. Determine the maximum time each fight may last and then add that amount of time again for each fight. Remember that with each extra fighter, your time requirements increase exponentially. Be realistic about how much time you have at the venue; account for weapon and armour checks, set-up, breakdown and lunch times, as well as the actual fighting, otherwise you will end up being over time.

The schedule for our tournament was planned with quite a large buffer between events, and everything ran quite comfortably, but there was no time spent waiting around, once everything was ready to start, and we started on time.

It is important to give your marshalling team and other non-combatant staff some kind of acknowledgement and reward. In our case, it was feeding and watering them, and thanking them publicly once everything was done. I think they were happy with that, although I know that the bigger tournaments also give gifts and other things. It depends on what your budget is, but I strongly suggest that you devote at least some of it to some kind of gesture of gratitude. Marshalls have to keep a very clear head and continual focus, as well as consistent judgement, throughout a tournament. Even if there is a pervading ethic of good sportsmanship amongst the fighters, (as in any sport), there will also always be that one dickhead who has to shout abuse and continually challenge the marshall's decisions. If you expect your marshalling team to come back again for another tournament, they should feel appreciated for dealing with the dickheads, if for no other reason.

One more thing. If by some strange twist of fate you actually have a budget, be careful how you apportion your spending. Don't blow it all on loot. Still try for the deals and trades which will result in your spending less. Keep some back, just in case. There is always some last minute, unforeseen fuck up that happens, and if you have a small contingency fund, you will be able to address it with more composure.

As I mentioned in the beginning, we had NO budget - we funded the whole event out of my pocket, and so when it came time, and instead of it being cloudy there was rain, we couldn't afford to hire a massive marquee or some other form of cover. Josh came up with the idea of throwing sawdust in the lists, and this worked really well for footing as well as keeping the buhurts less squishy. Bronwen, KC and Eurika also brought tents and gazebos to put around the lists for the fighters and their gear, and for the sound gear. We pulled it off through teamwork and good resource management and creative problem solving.

So I think the final lesson here is that no matter how great your plans are, the team that you choose to implement them and TRUST with the responsibility of getting the job done is the deciding factor. My team, the SA Rogue Squadron, plus mercs like Eurika, who was the Head Marshall for the buhurts, Stephen Kane, who was Head Marshall for the profights, and my other tribe members who played a part, are the ones who can take credit for a successful event.

I just thought about it, but they all made it happen. Thanks, guys!

Credits:

Head Marshalls
Eurika Dippenaar
Stephen Kane

Counting Marshalls
Matt the Goat
Mikey
Karen Reinertsen
Celeste

Scoring/Timing
Richard Rowland

Commentators
John Viljoen
Liesl

Venue and food
Natalie and Botha's Hill Craft Market (buhurt event)
Jamie and Cathy and Mad Monks (profight event)

Sound
Jamie Visagie

Wrist bands
Cathy Rees and Mad Monks

Press Platform
Troy and Dowsett Artworks

Photography
Belinda Angelozzi
Anton Moller
Michael Coffee

Heavy Lifting / Good Ideas / General Awesomeness
The SA Rogue Squadron (who are)
Josh Suttie
Bronwen Huysamer
Jimmy-Steve Cuthbert
KC Freer
Matt the Goat (again)

General Co-ordination
the girl in armour

flowers for the fallen

Dusk was falling when from the German trenches in front of the French line rose that strange green cloud of death. The light north-easterly breeze wafted it toward them, and in a moment death had them by the throat. One cannot blame them that they broke and fled. In the gathering dark of that awful night they fought with the terror, running blindly in the gas-cloud, and dropping with breasts heaving in agony and the slow poison of suffocation mantling their dark faces. Hundreds of them fell and died; others lay helpless, froth upon their agonized lips and their racked bodies powerfully sick, with tearing nausea at short intervals. They too would die later – a slow and lingering death of agony unspeakable. The whole air was tainted with the acrid smell of chlorine that caught at the back of men's throats and filled their mouths with its metallic taste.

— Captain Alfred Oliver Pollard, The Memoirs of a VC (1932)

The poppy came to be used as a symbol of remembrance for the soldiers who have fallen in battle, inspired by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae’s iconic poem written during the First World War, “In Flanders Fields”. It was this Canadian doctor’s loss of a friend during the Second Battle of Ypres that caused him to look upon the fields of poppies growing over the battle-fields, that moved him to write about war and loss and death and sacrifice.

I’ve had a few years on this Earth, and some of them lately, I’ve been aware of Poppy Day, and the discussion and the politics surrounding the celebrations. Last year, I had a very long and frustrating discussion on the subject which should not have happened. I was, alas, only just becoming familiar with the signs of the internet troll. But it did cause me to think about things more deeply and consciously.

In this post, I want to make two things very clear.

Firstly, being a girl in armour, I am aware of the very common misconception that we try to re-enact or recreate “war” as it was in medieval times, in our sport. Let me fix that. We don’t.

In our sport, I don’t think I’ve come across anyone who actually believes that what we do even approximates actual warfare. Many of the athletes who compete in full contact medieval combat are either in possession of a history degree of some sort, or are interested in history, and have some kind of understanding of what went on during battles. Speaking for myself, I think that taking the attitude that we are recreating “war” when we fight would insult the hardships, pain and fear that soldiers have always suffered in actual combat.

We recognise that we are safe. We have rules to make us safe. We go willingly and with joy into the lists to fight each other because we want to; we choose to. This is because we practice tournament fighting as a sport. And it is certainly not even in the same realm of experience. This, I acknowledge, as I am certain, do my peers in the sport.

And with that sorted out, I’d like to move on to the other point.

This is a scene in Luxembourg’s National Museum of Military History, (Diekirch), recreated from first-hand sources, detailing the invasion of Luxembourg in 1940.

When one is standing there in the museum, surrounded by all of the artefacts from that time, and so many others, when men killed each other not because they hated, but because their leaders decided it should be so, it is possible to feel the overwhelming sense of futility of that time.

Those soldiers did not willingly and happily go out to kill and to die. I believe that once the soldiers got to that point, in the picture above, where they had been fighting for weeks or months, without the feeling of safety, without the comfort of family, the snow knee deep and deeper, the constant cold and need always present, I believe that those who started out intending to happily go out and kill were only there because they had no choice.

Once troops are committed, there is no giving up and going home until the leader says it should be so. Those men (and now women) who become soldiers accept that they will not choose their own fate. They surrender it to the judgement of their leaders. And they are the ones who must suffer and die. They know this, and they go anyway. I think that must take some kind of bravery I can’t find in myself. And trust. Trust that their leaders will use their lives wisely.

However you look at it, if you are pro- or anti-war, you must acknowledge that a soldier – any soldier – is a brave and trusting person, whose life is used as currency for the security of a nation. And he KNOWS that. Whatever the politics and the philosophical arguments behind it, they are just abstract notions that change and waft this way and that, with time and wind.

The reality, the man in the broken boots with too little ammunition for the task his unit was given, who hasn’t eaten much, and who misses his children, who believes hard that his sacrifice will make a good difference because it is too late to turn back, and so he must believe; that man, every one, is worth remembering. They have a bravery and selflessness that most of us will never know or appreciate.

The celebrated poet, Siegfried Sassoon, was named “craven” by his commanding officers, after he sent his open letter of defiance to the British government, during World War 1. In it, he claimed that he was not returning to duty, following his convalescence, because the war was being needlessly prolonged by those who could make an end to it. This very famous letter has been the subject of much debate, and in everything of this nature, there are always valid points to be made for every argument. It is a recurring theme that we see in wars.

When does a war reach the point where a peace can be made, or at least an end to the war itself, but yet it is continued? That is something that the pro- anti-war camps can argue about amongst themselves. I am not interested in the debate.

What I am interested in is the value that leaders place on their soldiers. I think that whatever way we choose to remember our fallen soldiers should be accompanied by a reminder to our leaders to examine the value they place on those soldiers whose lives are still their currency with which they can invest.

For, as much as leaders may talk about “our men and women on the frontlines”, as if they know them, as if they understand what they are experiencing, it is plain that they don’t. If they did, our leaders would cease to treat their soldiers like .22 ammo (cheap and cheerful), and instead treat them more like 50 cal rounds (trustworthy, effective, and expensive to replace).

I’ll leave you all with the poem that began this post.

In Flanders Fields

BY JOHN MCCRAE

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

    That mark our place; and in the sky

    The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

        In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

    The torch; be yours to hold it high.

    If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

        In Flanders fields.