Tug of War

From ArticleWorld

Tug of war is the sport of putting two teams at different ends of a rope and pulling in opposite directions in a test of strength. A tug of war team officially consists of eight players, but is often varied depending upon the number of people present, as many of the other rules are. The rope should be about 10 centimeters around and must be marked at the center. Many times ropes will also be marked about four meters on both sides of the center line. The two teams start pulling as hard as they can, and pulls until a member of the other team falls down or until the other team’s mark crosses the center line.

Tug of war is a very popular sport and there are clubs in many different countries for both men and women. Tug of war was an official sport in the Olympic Games for two decades (1900-1920), but since then has not been reintroduced. There is a tug of war World Championship tournament every two years that is organized by the Tug of War International Federation (TWIF). There are competitions for indoor and outdoor teams, and a separate yet similar competition for club teams that wish to participate.

There are many variations that can be added to tug of war. Games that are played outside may have a large mud puddle in the center for the losers to fall into. Many times there are ropes constructed so that three, four, sometimes even five teams can play at once and pull in many different directions.

The rules for tug of war are always different depending upon where it is played. If played professionally, tug of war has rigid rules just like any other sport, but if played on the playground where most people learn to play, there are no rules whatsoever. No matter where you play, tug of war is a battle of strength, and the strongest will win.