Cockfights, betting on the past
SEQUENCE 1. Jose's farm
Like every other Saturday during
the fighting season, José, a resident of a small Andalucían village of 13,000
inhabitants, is getting ready to take his cocks to the fighting ring.
Without realizing it, he is
repeating a ritual that has been performed in various parts of Asia for more
than 3000 years.
Adapting to the times, Andalucían
cockers continue to breed and fight their cocks. They even form associations of breeders such
as the one José belongs to, where they work to defend their rights.
(some cockers)
- "You gonna fix this?
You gonna fix this?"
- "You want to fight
Saturday and Sunday? Saturday and
Sunday?"
- "Yes, Saturday and
Sunday."
- "And what have you
brought?"
- "What have I
brought?"
-" Not one feather. Not one feather, Manuel.."
- "And I’m not going to
bring more."
A heavy discussion is underway
when José arrives at the association’s cockpit.
Some members want to hold cockfights on Sundays, in addition to the traditional
Saturday fights, a desire not shared by others.
(one of the
cockers)
-"He wants to fight Saturday and Sunday, but he didn’t bring
any cocks. Without cocks, how is he
going to fight? Jesus!"
The fighting ritual begins early
with the weighing and measuring of the animals.
Like boxers before a fight, the
cocks are weighed one by one, oddly in pounds and ounces, despite the fact that
it has been more than a century since the kilogram replaced the pound as the
unit of measurement in Spain.
Each cock’s weight and the length
of his natural spurs are annotated in the participant list, from which they’ll
later pair fighters. They will be
matched as equally as possible; therefore, it is even noted if the cock has or
doesn’t have both eyes. This ritual has
been performed in the same way, by the same rules, for centuries.
(one of the cockers)
- "He’s got one eye!
One eye, Pepe".
(Title) Antonio Mandly, Anthropologist,
Sevilla University
-"Asian, European and Mediterranean cultures have always used
roosters as alarm clocks or for betting on in fights.
Just like we learn how to behave and relate to each other by
watching tragedies such as Shakespeare’s Macbeth, they have learned how to
behave by watching cocks fight.
It’s a part of becoming a man in
their society. A way to compete, to push
yourself, to fight against the elements, to fight against the difficulties in
life, of winning or losing, but always to be fighting ".
Once the participant list is
closed, they decide which cocks will fight.
Fights are between cocks of the same weight and with the same natural
spur length; with a difference of no more than two ounces (about 60 grams) and
two millimeters allowed. One-eyed cocks,
to compensate, always receive this advantange.
Entrance tickets are sold as soon
as the fighting schedule is posted.
(one of the cockers)
-"Give me two, for me and my
kid."
Tickets sold here are considered
weekly association dues; therefore, this association cannot be accused of
holding unauthorized public events. The
law only permits legally recognized breeders to enter and watch the
cockfights. However, despite these
restrictions, there are a large number of Andalucían cockpits that allows any
person who doesn’t raise suspicion to enter, simply by purchasing a ticket.
While the arena slowly fills, the
association’s Board of Directors takes the opportunity to hold their weekly
meeting. Today there are two important
topics on the agenda; extending the fights to include Sundays and increasing
security at the cockpit.
(one of the cockers)
-"Another thing. Nobody can enter without our consent. What
I’m saying is that if anyone comes and starts asking questions...nobody can
enter. Get the kids and take them out
the back".
Apparenty, the association senses
that, in some way, they are being watched.
(Colonel Dichas)
-" Cockfighting
clubs are authorized to conduct trial fights where the animals aren’t hurt and
where the only test is their quality and bravery, for the purpose of improving
the breed. But they can’t hold a large
event where the public can see the animals fighting."
SEQUENCE 2. The police control.
The Environmental Protection
Service of the Spanish Civil Guard was created in 1988 especially for the
persecution of ecological crimes. In
1996, after accumulating a number of complaints by ecological groups, they
first began to investigate Andalucían cockpits.
(title) Colonel Dichas, Environmental Protection Service, Civil Guard
-"Honestly, nobody
knew or wanted to know if cockfighting was totally legal, if it was illegal...
what the limits were, only that it has been a longstanding tradition in
Andalucía. We studied the laws. The laws we found were very old. But the fact remained that these fights
weren’t legal in they way they were conducting them."
Unauthorized public events,
illegal betting, and the presence of minors at fights have been the only
infractions for which many cockpits have been charged. Oddly enough, despite evidence that gamecocks
have been wounded, no cockpit has been charged for the maltreatment of
animals. The only law existing in
Andalucía to protect animals from being maltreated is an old national law
created in 1929. If found guilty,
breeders are only subjected to a low fine of 1 to 3$. The autonomous government of Andalucía has no
laws of its own to protect animals.
(Colonel Dichas)
-"Understand that
cockfighting has been a tradition in Andalucía for years, and that the breeding
and exportation of these animals has been good for the local economy."
Breeding gamecocks for
exportation is completely legal in Spain, but cockfighting is not. Here, the
Spanish law is quite vague. A metaphoric
comparison would be to say that one is permitted to grow and harvest heroin for
exportation, but not for consumption within one’s own country.
(Colonel Dichas)
-" Simply, they
continue to hold cockfights because they are central to the culture in parts of
Andalucía. Their fathers and
grandfathers went to fights and they are continuing the tradition."
SEQUENCE 3. The fight.
In José’s cockpit, the first
fight is about to begin. The only detail
remaining is the equalization of the bets.
At Andalucían cockfights, there
are two types of bets. The first is between
the owners of the cocks that are going to fight. In this fight, the owner of one of the cocks,
the red, bets 80$. His opponent
originally bet 50$, but has to put down more to equalize the bet if he wants
his cock to fight. He parades his cock
around the ring, looking for a partner.
(one of the cockers)
-"Give money to the
poor!"
-"Give money to the
poor, he’ll win!"
The look of the gamecock differs
significantly from the common farmyard rooster.
Their crests have been cut to prevent their opponent from grabbing it
with its beak, and their legs and chests are shaved to facilitate the healing
of their wounds.
In this fight, it’s the grey
cock, with its tailfeathers cut, versus the red cock, with a full tail and a
white back. Neither “red” nor “grey” are
their true names, but names given spontaneously with respect to their color so
the spectators can easily tell them apart and bet on them.
(one of the cockers)
-"Doubles!"
-"Double five
thousand pesetas!"
The first bets are called out. It seems that the grey cock with the short
tail has shown the best form and has received the first bets.
-"Five thousand on
the grey one!"
-"OK!"
This is the
second type of bet. Any spectator can bet on a cock. They simply shout out the
name of the cock and the amount of the bet if someone accepts it, he calls out
his agreement.
(some cockers)
-"OK¡
Who’s talking?"
-
"OK¡ You grey, I red¡"
Nothing is put in writing,
receipts aren’t issued, and the only commitment is the given word. Interestingly, Andalucían cockpits follow the
same form of betting as in Bali in Indonesia, where the first fighting cocks
originated.
(some cockers)
-"Five thousand on the grey
one¡"
-"Two thousand¡"
-" Ok"
(Antonio Mandly, anthropologist)
-"The bet is
fundamental. In every aesthetic element,
the bet is fundamental. Cernuda said, “A
man cannot merely live. Like a tragic
game, he must bet his life on something. They throw away their hard-earned
money on betting to further their social stature. The way to further their social stature in
Mediterranean culture – in Andalucían culture – is through the rooster."
(title) Luis Gil,
Andalusian Ecologist Asociation (ASANDA)
-"I believe that the
majority of society knows that there are economic reasons for the existence of
these events and that they are not merely sports events… if you can call this a
sport."
-"We have colleagues
in Cádiz that got into a Spanish championship and they estimated that there
were more than 7 million pesetas in play each day, based on the length of each
fight and the number of fights each day.
I suppose that some could bring in much more and others much less."
Andalucían ecological associations have
a different view of cockfighting. They
were the first to denounce the cruelty of these practices, and their complaints
have been responsible for fines imposed against some cockpits. Additionally, they have fostered within
Andalucían society a growing awareness of the existence of the maltreatment of
animals in cockfighting.
(Luis Gi, ecologistl)
-"Whoever sees a
cockfight could say what they want, that they liked or didn’t like it. What they can’t say is that it isn’t violent
and that the animals don’t suffer fatal, or at the very least severe, wounds".
SEQUENCE 4. The agony.
Ten minutes into the
thirty-minute fight, the bets have gone in the other direction.
(one of the cockers)
-"Five thousand on the red, on the red five thousand! ¡Ahí,
ehyyyy¡"
The red cock, with the white back,
has rallied and seems to have blinded the grey, who futiley pecks the air
without finding his opponent.
(some cockers)
-"No, no. It hasn’t gone blind".
-"It’s not
blind. No way it’s blind!"
-"It’s not blind,
right?"
-"No. Didn’t you see him go for the other?"
-"It can only see a
little! A little!"
-"Only a little, but
something!"
-"Shit, that’s not
enough!"
The cocks use their beaks to peck
at the eyes of their opponents and, if possible, to grab and hold their
opponents while they attack him with their spurs. Up to two centimeters in length, spurs can
inflict the most serious of injuries.
-"Double that he’ll
lose!"
-"Three to one he’ll
lose!"
-"Four to one he’ll
lose!"
-"Six to one he’ll
lose!"
Centuries-old fighting rules stipulate
that a cock loses if it dies during the fight; if, tired of the fight, it falls
to the floor without being struck by its opponent; or if, as the cockers say,
it “sings like a chicken,” that is to say, if it emits a submissive cluck,
recognizing the superiority of its opponent.
Nearly every cocker has had at
least one one-eyed cock that has gone on to win many fights, but the grey cock,
completely blind, does not have a chance for victory.
The owner of the grey can
withdraw his cock from the fight at any time.
However, he opts to keep the cock in the ring, hoping that it will
continue to fight for the remaining 20 minutes, at least finishing in a draw.
After nineteen minutes of
fighting, the grey can scarcely move. It
has lost a lot of blood and is incapable of defending itself against the blows
of the red.
However, suddenly something
strange has happened;
(the fight's referee)
-"I’m timing the
separation!"
The red cock has also stopped
fighting. If two minutes pass without either
cock resuming the fight, the fight will end in a draw.
(the fight's referee)
-"I’m timing the
separation!"
-"I’ve started the
clock! Shut up!"
While the clock ticks off each
second of the separation, betting is prohibited, as is shouting at the cocks. The ring is wreathed in silence; everyone
listening attentively, straining to hear if the grey begins to “sings like a
chicken.”
SEQUENCE 5. The
ecologyst.
(Luis Gi,ecologist)
- "These days, we can’t allow people to dedicate their lives
to creating these disturbing shows of violence."
Luis Gil is sadly thinking about
how, during every weekend, dozens of Andalucían villages continue to host
cockfights.
His association has spent years
trying to put a stop to these fights, though they have had to use a roundabout
approach. They have accused cockpits for
lacking the authorization to hold public events and for illegal betting,
transgressions much more typically recognized by Andalucían legislation than
the mistreatment of animals.
(Luis Gil)
-"If these things exist in Andalucía, it’s due to a major
flaw in the authority of the administration.
If the administration wants to put an end to this, cockfighting must be
completely eradicated."
Asanda’s files contain numerous
examples of, according to animals rights activists, deficiencies in the
authority of the Andalucían administration.
January 1996, Asanda accuses a
cockring in Alcalá de Guadaira, Sevilla of holding cockfights.
The Office of the Andaluz Government
responds with a reminder to ecologists that breeders are authorized to hold
fights to test, without injury to the animals, their qualifications for
breeding.
Asanda responds that not only did
the accused cockpit hold fights that resulted in injury to the animals, but
that they were never authorized by the Department of Agriculture to hold tests
to begin with.
No response.
Asanda asks the administration if
they have or haven’t begun an investigation.
No response.
Asanda repeats their request.
No response.
Asanda repeats their request.
April 1997, the Andaluz
Government informs Asanda that they have initiated actions… to find out the
name of the cockpit association responsible for the deed. This is one year and four months after the
initial accusation.
(Luis Gil)
- "What is the solution?
Our point of view is that there is only one. Comply with the law. And if they don’t intend to comply with the
law, then declare it openly and tell the Andalucían administration, “We legally
permit cockfighting” and let the European community judge them
respectively."
SEQUENCE 6. The final of the
grey.
(the fight's referee)
-"Draw!"
Finally, the agony of the grey
has not been in vain. The draw has saved
its owner his bet of 80$.
The owner of the red quickly
removes his animal. Despite the fact it
was the aggressor for the better part of the fight, it seems to be seriously
wounded.
(title)
Owner of the Red Cock
-"There was a draw of separation because my cock had a big
gash in its chest; it was bleeding and couldn’t finish off the other. But I had hoped for something better."
-" With a gash this big, they lose blood fast. They recover quickly, but at the time, when
they lose a lot of blood, they also temporarily lose their vision... I’ve got
to put my other one in the ring, the second one. Excuse me."
While the owner’s friends treat
the cock to stop the haemorraging, in the ring the next fight has already
begun.
(Colonel Dichas)
-"We respond to every claim we receive. Unfortunately, our resources are limited and
we can’t dedicate people exclusively to this cause. There are other causes we’re responsible for
that need our attention, too."
SEQUENCE 7. The breeder's point of view.
(Francisco Burgos, Gamecock
Breeder)
-"The police came to close down my ring and I told them they
couldn’t, because this was my life."
-Francisco Burgos, president of
the Cádiz Federation of Gamecock Breeders is also the owner of the New Andalucía
cockpit in Chiclana de la Frontera, a cockpit accused by the Agaden Ecological
Association for coordinating and holding public cockfights. The complaint was followed up by the 231st
Command of the Cadiz Civil Guard.
(title) Francisco
Burgos, President of the Cádiz Federation of Gamecock Breeders
-"Then I told the police, “Give it to me in writing. We’ll go to the the judge and let him decide
who’s right and who’s wrong. Give it to
me in writing that if the judge says I’m right and within the law, you’ll pay
for the damages.
They didn’t close it. They
didn’t close it because we’re part of a federation and they can’t close
it. Anyway, I think that we’re totally
legal."
Like many other cockers, Francisco
doesn’t exactly know if today’s activities are legal or not.
The law authorizes him to breed
gamecocks exclusively for exportation, and to hold tests during which the cocks
are tested for bravery. However, it is
prohibited to open these tests to the public, and the animals must not suffer
injuries of any kind.
During these tests, breeders must
place special leather gloves such as these over the cocks’ spurs to prevent
them from causing damage to their opponent.
(Francisco Burgos, Gamecock Breeder)
-"We need to blood the cock to know that it's brave. If a bull isn’t wounded, you don’t know how
it will react to the horse. It is very
similar. We can tell if a bull is brave
by watching its reaction after it is stabbed with the banderillas. You stab it to see if it gives up the fight
or if it continues to attack the horse.
Well, the cock is the same. If we
don’t test the cocks with bare spurs, we can’t tell which are good for stud and
which aren’t."
For the cockers, exposing the cocks to
pain suffered in a real fight is the only way to select the best and bravest
cocks for breeding. For years, studs
like this one were the base of the florishing business of exportation of
Andalucían gamecocks to South America, a business that plummeted in the 90s
during the severe devaluation of South American monies.
The Cádiz Federation of Gamecock
Breeders estimates that of the 10,000 Spanish breeders, the majority are
concentrated in Andalucía. That only
3000 cocks were exported during 1999 suggests that there are other reasons to
continue with the tradition of breeding cocks.
This seems to confirm the suspicions of Andalucían ecologists that
exportation to South America is today a front for continuing to hold fights in
Andalucía.
Without the bloodshed and the
betting, would Andalucían cockfights maintain their popularity and continue to
raise the same passion?
(Francisco Burgos, Gamecock
Breeder)
-"If there weren’t cockers, if it were up to the ecologists,
the gamecock breed would definitely go extinct. Can any ecologist tell me that he actually
wants an animal to go extinct?"
With the arrival of winter,
Francisco begins to vaccinate his cocks, one of the various tasks that are a
part of breeding these animals, a task he performs with enthusiasm and
affection.
For years, he has taken pride in
his work. But now, he has begun to feel
discriminated against, considered by some to be a beast and a delinquent, while
other better-known types of breeders, such as bull breeders, are admired and
protected.
(Francisco Burgos, Gamecock
Breeder)
-"The gamecock is as old as the fighting bull. What’s happened is that the cock is the poor
man’s and the bull is for the rich, and they always protect the rich and not
the poor. This is the difference. If bull breeders had gamecocks, the gamecocks
would be considered more important than they are now."
SEQUENCE 8. Andalucía.
According to bullfight promoters, the
bullfight generates in Spain 200,000 millions of pesetas, more than 1 billion dollars
each year and creates 150,000 jobs.
Though these estimates are disputed by
Spanish ecological groups, who accuse bullfight promotors of inflating the
numbers, the economical magnitude of the bullfight in Spain, especially in
Andalcía, is indisputable.
This volume of business is for many the
only reason for the existence of the so-called “Fiesta Nacional,” an event
fully regulated, guided and protected by the Andalucían and Spanish
administrations.
(Luis Gil)
-"It’s a shameful situation.
I would be embarrased to prohibit and persecute some people for having
cockfights -- a violation because it’s considered conducting a non-authorized
public event -- while not only allowing, but supporting and presiding over
other public events, like the bullfight.
To me, it would be shameful, though I can’t imagine it, because I think
both should be prohibited. But surely
the man that presides over a bullfight one day must feel guilty when he has to
close down a cockfight the next"
-Curiously the Office of the Andaluz
Government, the body that supervises and directs bullfights and even decides
which bullfighters have earned trophies during a fight, is the same body that
should be restricting cockfighting events.
(title) The Ombudsman for the Andaluz village
-"With respect to the cockfights in Andalucía, the truth is
that the administration is not complying with the law. They’re fining cockers for holding
unauthorized public events, for illegal betting, and for allowing minors to
attend, but not for using animals for public spectacles of this kind. For events that are, by definition,
violent".
The Ombudsman for the Andaluz
village is the ecological groups’ final hope.
In his annual reports, issued
regularly to the Andaluz parliament, the Ombudsman has accused the
administration of a lack of efficiency and diligence in responding to the
complaints of animal rights groups, and for being slow and inefficient in
ensuring the compliance of the law.
(The Ombudsman)
-"It’s necessary, and I’ve said it many times, but it’s
necessary to create a law to protect animals.
Then my office could push the administration into being harder on cases
of maltreatment of animals."
The Andalucían law to protect
animals from maltreatment demanded by the Ombudsman has been rattling around in
the autonomous parliament for 10 years.
This delay has made Andalucía one
of the only remaining autonomous Spanish communities without a law to protect
animals.
In communities where such a law does
exist, strange cases have presented themselves.
In the Canary Islands, for example, bullfights have been prohibited, but
cockfights – an important tradition in the islands – have been legalized.
In Andalucía, home of the bull,
bullfighting will doubtlessly remain perfectly protected by the law, once it is
finally passed. But it’s a mystery as to
what will happen to other events popular in Andalucían celebrations, such as
the lancing of bulls and cows, bulls of
fire, pig racing, skeet shooting with live birds, turkey tossing, and
cockfighting.
(The Ombudsman)
-"There is nothing that can justify why there is no such
law. We will never be in agreement with
all the articles, but still there should be a law that regulates many of these
events, events whose attraction are difficult to understand in this day and
age."
SEQUENCE
9. The last fight.
While the gamecocks spend the
week slowly recuperating, José doesn’t waste time. He has dedicated his week to training new
cocks for next Saturday’s fights.
José’s cockpit, despite it’s
location in a small Andalucían town, is relatively famous throughout the
province. Fights are held every Saturday
during the season, which runs from September through December and from March
through June, and even breeders from other provinces attend.
Cockfights have always been
associated with the rural world.
Spectators and breeders are, for the most part, farmers or cattlemen,
country folk that get together every Saturday at the fights, a tradition that
has been enjoyed for centuries.
(a cocker)
- "It’s dead!"
Today, with governments growing
increasingly more aware of ecological issues the popularity of cockfighting is
suffering a strong setback throughout the world and has been almost completely
eradicated in Europe. Only in Andalucía
does the tradition of the cockfight still exist.-
SEQUENCE
10. Jose's turn.
Finally, it is José’s turn. No acceptable opponent was found within the
house for his cock, but the cockpit president has agreed to allow it to fight
one of the outsider’s cocks. To
compensate for the lighter weight of his animal, the outsider requests three
more millimeters trimmed off the spurs of José’s cock.
Under the careful eye of the outsider,
the judge trims the spurs and disinfects them with a lemon, an old method for
preventing the possible use of poison.
José is one of the oldest
breeders in his village. His 50 years of
breeding and training experience are reason enough for his peers to confidently
place their bets on his beautiful white bird.
The fight heats up rapidly and,
within minutes, bets of 150$ have already been raised to 600$.
(some cockers)
-"Twenty-five thousand
pesetas on the white!"
-"A hundred thousand on
eight!"
-"Two hundred thousand on
eight"
José hasn’t visited outside cockpits
for quite some time. For him, this is
the highest reward, the power shown each Saturday by his gamecocks and the
recognition he receives from his peers.
Nevertheless, today things are
not going well and the outsider’s cock, despite his lesser weight, is clearly
winning.
(the fight's referee)
-"Loser!"
The silence in the ring that
follows the unexpected defeat of José’s cock clearly demonstrates that his
friends have lost money, but there is more bad news for José – his white cock
has lost both its eyes.
(José)
-"It’s blind. It’s
blind."
( the winner's owner)
-"A marvel. A cock
that’s given so many strikes, has shown such bravery, that has pushed forward
and has gone on to win and win."
(one of the cockers)
-"You selling it?"
( the winner's owner)
-"No. No, this cock
isn’t for sale."
The value of a cock is based on
its ability to win fights, and therefore, bets.
The day’s victor doubtlessly hopes that it has earned a rest after winning
so much money for its owners, maybe even retirement as a stud.
Both cocks, for very different
reasons, have fought their last fight.
(José Gil)
-"I think that if we want society in the future to be
different than it is now, with less violence in every sense of the word, one of
the ways to begin would be to eliminate gratuitous violence. In this case we could eliminate it quite
simply. Unfortunately, other cases would
be more difficult to eliminate. I think
it would be a better place to raise children."
(Francisco Burgos)
-"I think that we’re going to win. Just like the bull is a part of Spain, there
will be a day when the gamecock reaches the same heights as the bull. This I believe. And if I didn’t believe this, I wouldn’t be
here."
(Antonio Mandly)