Paralympics: 'Murderball' court is no place for faint-hearted

By GREG ANSLEY

SYDNEY - Even before the teams appear, the crowds are hooting, pumped by thumping music and Mexican waves that flow endlessly around the stands at the Olympic Park Dome.

They have been queueing for more than an hour, with their New Zealand, British, Australian and boxing kangaroo flags, bright yellow Brazilian caps and anything else with colour and flair, stomping their feet as decibel levels soar to brain-hammering limits.

As the Wheel Blacks and their German opponents roll out on to the court, tracked by team mechanics with their racks of spare wheels, the roar is deafening.

This is gladiator stuff.

They may have changed the name from murderball to wheelchair rugby, but the crowd want it all - and the players are ready to give it.

The teams file out, high-fiving each other before lining up in mid-court, eyeing each other in the opening stages of the Paralympics wheelchair rugby series.

The Germans are expected to fold under the weight of a stronger, faster, Kiwi team, but no one has told them that.

As Sholto Taylor leads the haka, the Germans glare back, rhythmically pounding the wheels of their chairs. No one can accuse Germans of cultural sensitivity, nor are they easily intimidated.

The crowd thunder out the countdown from 10 to zero, the horn blasts and within seconds Jeremy Tinker belts through the path cleared by his team-mates and the Wheel Blacks go one up.

Curtis Palmer follows with another lightning goal and it's all on.

Peter Schreiner slams Tinker behind the rear axle, the Kiwi hits the floor and the German is sinbinned for one minute; a few minutes more, and Tinker is over again. This is brutal, and the crowd love it.

So does Tinker. He grins broadly, high-fives the German who took him out, and races back into play.

Welcome to wheelchair rugby, one of the big hits of the Paralympics and a rapidly growing sport that has already created a semi-professional league in the United States and is exploding throughout Europe.

It began 23 years in Canada as a contact sport for tetraplegics - like wheelchair basketball with punch - involving chairs with rounded armour that protects the legs and at the same time acts as tackling rams.

Picked up by the Americans, the sport evolved into a blend of rugby, basketball and American football, accelerating around the court in brilliant spurts of speed, dazzling tactics and chair-hammering tackles.

Four players are on the court at any one time, with up to eight substitutes.

Players are graded with a level of disability on a points system from 0.5 to 3.5, with a maximum of 8 points for the four players on the court.

Balls can be carried, dribbled or passed - but must be bounced at least once every 10s - and goals are scored by carrying the ball over the opposing goal-line.

Wheelchair coach Tony Howe joined the sport in its early New Zealand days, about a decade ago and several years behind the Australians, because it put contact back into sport for wheelchair athletes.

"It's a collision sport," he said. "I guess it goes back to the old schooldays - love that rough and tumble.

"It's as hard, but not necessarily as bone-crunching, as it looks.

"There's a bit of rough and tumble, but only a few broken bones," Howe said. "Mainly it's just cuts and bruises and the odd concussion.

"The equipment is designed to protect the players as well as to support their roles, but obviously it can't protect them from hitting the floor.

"They learn how to fall, like rugby players learn how to tackle, and how to absorb a tackle."

The chairs, weighing just 13kg and lighting fast on turns and acceleration, are far more vulnerable: at $4700 each, they have a life expectancy of 12 months.

The Americans have dominated the sport for years through a 1300-player pool and its sponsored league. Wheel Blacks Tinker, Curtis Palmer, Paule Leefe and Tim Johnson have been recruited by the US league, and fellow Kiwi Kevin Griffith also plays in the United States.

The Wheel Blacks won their first matches, against Britain 46-37 and Germany 47-30.

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