Laos has possibly the strangest sporting scene of any country I have been to. There are basically only four sports here, to wit:
1) Football. Obviously. Like everyone else in Asia, everyone watched the Premiership. Shirt-wearing is fairly rare (certainly in comparison to Africa), but all the little bars advertise the big games – and not just the ones catering to foreigners which have signs out saying things like "Volume Drinkers Paradise". I would reckon that words like "Liverpool" and "Manchester" may be among the first latin-script words yound Laos learn. Kids play it, too – but there’s not much in the way of decent pitches. Even in the "professional" league, star players aren’t really full time. The "national" league is actually restricted to teams in Vientiane who – as far as I can tell – all play in the same stadium, which from the outside appears to have a capacity of about 5,000.
2) Snooker. Every damn bar has four or five tables, and all they are always full.
3) Petanques. A legacy of the French, I guess. Every day you see a set of courts on the edge of town justpacked with young guys playing petanques (often wearing football shirts - I swear one game was Arsenal shirts v. Chelsea shirts)
4) Volleyball. Occasionally i see people playing this. Not as commonly as the other three, though.
I've also seen some courts for that foot-volley game - Arak Whatsit - you know, the one with the rattan ball. But I've not seen anyone playing it.
I hereby nominate Laos for having the strangest combination of national pastimes ever.
1) Football. Obviously. Like everyone else in Asia, everyone watched the Premiership. Shirt-wearing is fairly rare (certainly in comparison to Africa), but all the little bars advertise the big games – and not just the ones catering to foreigners which have signs out saying things like "Volume Drinkers Paradise". I would reckon that words like "Liverpool" and "Manchester" may be among the first latin-script words yound Laos learn. Kids play it, too – but there’s not much in the way of decent pitches. Even in the "professional" league, star players aren’t really full time. The "national" league is actually restricted to teams in Vientiane who – as far as I can tell – all play in the same stadium, which from the outside appears to have a capacity of about 5,000.
2) Snooker. Every damn bar has four or five tables, and all they are always full.
3) Petanques. A legacy of the French, I guess. Every day you see a set of courts on the edge of town justpacked with young guys playing petanques (often wearing football shirts - I swear one game was Arsenal shirts v. Chelsea shirts)
4) Volleyball. Occasionally i see people playing this. Not as commonly as the other three, though.
I've also seen some courts for that foot-volley game - Arak Whatsit - you know, the one with the rattan ball. But I've not seen anyone playing it.
I hereby nominate Laos for having the strangest combination of national pastimes ever.
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