Ginneighsack

Religious and recreational game played by the Ginnic Scots

The game of Ginneighsack is different from modern sports in several ways. The sport’s of today involve playing on two opposing teams, to attempt to beat each other. For the Ginneighsacker, it is entirely up to him whether or not he will cooperate with his fellows, or play against them at each moment during play. The game is played with two or more people, on a large stone or paved court with at least one elevated hoop, of at least ten feet at one end. The players then attempt to punch (bruin) a ball (a sack) through the hoop. The ability to punch the ball accurately is a skill that takes a long time to develop. In the olde days, playing Ginneighsack was such a populated affair that most players never touched the ball, much less even go the chance to bruin it at all, so honor points were few and far between. Of course Ginneigh’s people are aggressively devoted to their god, so no matter how hard the game, a sacker would often submit himself completely to the rage that arose from his past failures on the Ginneigh court. This is why accidental deaths were highly common on the courts when enraged and bitter Scots would savagely beat their way towards the ball in order to get another chance at getting it in. Bruining and punching is the largest part of the game, but it is not all of it. Additionally, there is the flail, the falconer, and the flying Dutchmen. The flail is a long one armed lob from back court towards the hoop. The Ginneighad states that the ball can not be held in the hand unless from behind the bruining realm which is in about a 15 foot radius from the hoop. From behind there the player can throw the ball as he wishes from far behind, honor gained from successful throws gains with distance. The players eventually developed the technique of falconing. Since they could not hold the ball in the bruin realm they would balance it on their forearm and carry it closer to the hoop for an easier bruin. This was much more difficult in the olde days, when a hundred honor hungry Scots stood between you and the hoop, and falconing the ball all they way their seemed more like suicide than a smarter course of action, like punching the ball away from you as soon as possible. There were those that were light of foot, and could falcon with much grace. The scriptures depict some players gracefully darting between men, and falconing the ball all the way to the hoop. By the time William the Wise returned to Scotland with a renewed company of Ginnic Dutch, Polish, and Germans they soon took up the sport as well. One such Dutchmen, whose name is long forgotten, was the first to declare that it was perfectly fine to hold the ball two handed so long as that the holder was airborn. From this point on any time someone would run towards the hoop and leap forwards, then throw the ball overhead, two-handed, that would be referred to as a Flying Dutchmen. Although it is little, known there is an alternative to the “Dutchman” called the Raging Celt. The Scots who bore witness to the Dutchmen’s new move were not all entirely pleased with this outsider’s bending of the rules, so a boastful and angry Scot patented a similar move, accept only using a one hand flying lob and called a Raging Celt. Through time the differences have been forgotten and the name’s are relatively interchangeable.