RASPALL OR VALENCIAN BALL

ORIGINSBall sport was widely practiced in ancient Greece and was introduced in the Iberian Peninsula by the Roman Empire.

However, some studies evidence that it derived from the French medieval game of 'jeu de paume' which was first documented in 1292. 

"Joc de pilota", de Josep Bru i Albinyana

GAMBLING PLACE Raspall' can be played in a 'trinquet' or in the street

EQUIPMENT

BALL: Regulatory ball is called “pilota de vaqueta" that weighs between 40 and 42 grams

The SPORTS EQUIPMENT is white shirt and trousers or shorts also white. Local teams wear a red badge and visitors wear a blue badge to distinguish them.

GLOVES. They are used to protect hands when hitting the ball. They are made of lambskin and do not cover the fingers. Players to hold them to hand bind with a pair of linked strings. Under the glove, as the protection is not sufficient, they wear, steel plates or sponges underneath them covering them later with tape.

THIMBLES is a tubular piece of skin or pork bellies closed at one end standing with a cotton swab or sponge leather, all well set with tape. It protect fingertips.

The most common composition is of two players per team. The player placed further back is called rest, and the player who is placed ahead is called the punter. If the team consists of 3 players, there will be one in the middle of these two is called mitger.

PLAYERS

GAME DEVELOPMENT

Two teams throw the ball between each other with the aim of making it unplayable for the opposition players. There are two halves to the playing area called the 'serving' and the 'receiving' fields although there is nothing to determine the boundary between these two halves.

Irregularities such as balconies, doorways, street signs and gutters can be used to try and trap the ball and make it unplayable.

SCOREAt each end of the playing area, there are the 'fault lines' past which the opposition team is trying to propel the ball; if it bounces on the ground beyond this line, the opposition team wins a 'quinze' - 15, 30, 'val' and 'joc' - and the aim of the game is to win five 'jocs' to claim the match.

RASPALL

One of the variants of the game is the raspall which owes its name to the fact that the ballplayer can scrape the ball with his hand on the ground to return the ball.

MEDIA

Some interesting links to videos where you can watch the game.

http://www.fedpival.eshttps://youtu.be/a-80TiRWjEAhttps://youtu.be/QGVLV_xXAgo

ART ON THE STREET

By chance one day walking along the old “Barrio del Carmen” in Valencia I discovered on the door of a building this graffiti referred to the traditional Valencian ball game.