La Soule

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La Soule, also known as choule, is a traditional team sport originating in Normandy, Brittany and Picardy.

The ball called a soule could be solid or hollow and made of either wood or leather. Leather balls would be filled with hay, bran, horse hair or moss. Sometimes the balls had woollen pompons.[1]

Contents

[edit] Early records

It would appear that ball games such as soule developed naturally as a pastime, even if only tossing the ball around. It would be played wherever crowds of people met for example; after the church services on Sundays or on religious holidays. And so we find that la soule was a game played chiefly on the Christian holidays of Easter, Christmas, or on occasionally at weddings or the day of the patron Saint of the parish. The play could be aggressive, sometimes violent. It involved getting a ball into the opponents’ goal, using hands, feet or sticks. It was not uncommon for participants to be injured, and broken limbs are often reported. The sport seems to have been a very important stress release for the common villagers.

  • 1147 - A charter specifies the payment of an amount of money and handing-over of "seven balloons of greatest dimension.[2]
  • 1283 The first and only reference of a game in Cornwall dates from this year. A certain Roger was accused of striking a fellow player in a game called soule with a stone, a blow which proved fatal. The details were recorded in the plea rolls No. 111. This reference occurs in Medieval Cornwall by L. E. Elliot-Binns.
  • 1393 - In Paris, a game took place in front of Saint-Eustache.
  • 1396 - The rules of the game were codified. The soules were getting so large because; people were trying to exceed their predecessors; this zeal had to be restricted; a rule dated 1412 to limit the size of the ball or Soule, stating that it could be so small that it could be held with only one hand. This habit disappeared only at 16th century.
  • 1365 - Documents record the game of soule is an ordinance of Charles V "that the 'solles' cannot appear among the games which serve the exercise of the body". However, if it does not appear that the Breton sovereigns (Brittany being independent at the time) continued the of this game as it was not the same ecclesiastical authorities.
  • 1440 - Another prohibition made by the bishop of Tréguier precise that this game is practised since a long time ago. He threatened the players with excommunication, or very severe punishment, and of 100 grounds of fine, which proves well that the soule was very appreciated at that time: it was necessary to inspire the fear to put an end to the play, but that did not stop the eagerness of the souleurs.
  • 19th century -From this time on, the majority of the soules were taking place at Morbihan in spite of prohibitions. Only the war put an end to this play because the young people all were mobilized.
  • 1841.At Bellou-en-Houle contestants numbered up to 800 and there were said to be 6000 spectators. The ball was 3 ft around and weighed 13 pounds. In this game the losing side would often cut the ball in half with their knives. To prevent this the ball was sheathed in tin.

[edit] Play

The rules of the soule were relatively simple. Generally two teams were opposed, generally two parishes. The aim of the game was either to bring the ball back to just in front of the team’s parish church, with or without the use of sticks (the ball was usually made from a pig’s bladder, covered with leather) or to deposit the ball in front of the opposing team’s parish church, which was sometimes quite far and entailed going through fields, forests and over rivers and streams. Occasionally, but not always, there were posts. The game was started at the geographical border between the two parishes. It was also sometimes organised between teams of single versus married men. The size of the team could vary from 20 to 200 players. Nothing was forbidden by the rules, and the game could last for several days, until the players were completely exhausted.

It happened sometimes that three parishes take share with the play as in this memorable part of 1889 enters, Locuon, Mellionnec and Plouray which was played in extreme parts of the Côtes-du-Nord and Morbihan on the moors known as "Lanneier Gallhouarn". In Auray, a soule involved 16 parishes; sources say that there were one more than five hundred participants.

To encourage them, all the inhabitants came out to watch. A large crowd surrounds notable person who throws up the ball to set off the game.

Before prohibitions, the clergy and the nobility also took part in these sports. The members of the clergy could take part or all at least launch the ball one at the beginning. In Vieuxviel, the soule was launched at the door of the castle, it was then taken to the cemetery by the priests and the officers of the parish. Finally the soule could be placed with the presbytery or in a vault and in Vitré, it was displayed in the church the day of Saint-Etienne. However in spite of the importance of the play, noble and members of the clergy gave up any participation in during the 18th century.

[edit] Places of practice

The traditional games seems not to have any particular pitch or defined playing field. Soule was practised through the meadows, wood, the moors and even the ditches or the ponds. The goal was to bring back the ball in a place indicated, this could be the hearth of a house for example or any other place chosen by the players. In certain cases, it was even necessary to soak the soule in a spring or pool of water before placing it in ash. The play was thus only one immense scrummage intersected with more or less keen frays. The instrument of play could be a leather ball, a bladder of pig filled with hay, a ball of fabric, a wood ball or even a wood block.

The fixed places were not necessary because it was of the sports of full nature. The parishes were not enough easy to build a pitch or a ground. The rules were very fluctuating. Lastly, the authorities were against the practice of these sports. However one can release from the common points:The start always took place in a fixed place (the square, the cemetery, a window, the castle, a meadow).

The rules were not always precise. The dates were fixed often early in the new year, before springtime. After this time many of the soulers would be busy in the fields.

[edit] Revivals in the 20th Century

The last recorded games seem to date from between 1930 -1945. One of the last recorded games was between the villages of Saint-Léger-aux-Bois and Tracy-le-Mont in the Oise region of Picardy which is situated 35 miles north of Paris. [3]

There seems to have been several attempts to revive the game in some form or other:

  • A Normandy festival is held in Jersey every year, this normally involves some re-enactment of Choule.
  • Tricot, a village in Somme, still plays Soule Sunday after Shrove Tuesday.
  • Soule was played in 1994 in Vouillé in Vienne

[edit] Variations

  • Choule crosse: = 'Choule with sticks' 5 players with substitutes being able to enter constantly. Ball of string or packing + rag surrounded of leather, 10 cm in diameter approximately, with weak rebound. A referee of field and two referees of goals and zones possibly.
  • Grande Choule: played with large teams and very rough.Ball could be played with hands or feet.
  • La petite crosse or Petite choulethe: An early version of cricket played with bats and wickets. No records exist except in early engravings

[edit] See also

  • Knattleikr, a Viking ball game which may be the origin of la soule/choule.

[edit] External links

[edit] Reading

  • 'Jeux de balle en Picardie. Les frontières de l'invisible'. A French book on the subject by Marie Cegarra. ISBN 2-7384-6420-3
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