As with many aspects of their culture, it’s unclear exactly what kinds of games the Vikings played, but one thing is certain - their games were incredibly brutal and violent, since they were considered training for personal combat.
From vague descriptions in Icelandic "sagas" - histories of the Vikings that were passed down orally for hundreds of years before finally being transcribed in the 1900s - one ball game sounds a bit like an early and very violent version of cricket. The main difference being that most contemporary cricket players can expect to survive to the end of the game.
Vikings, on the other hand, weren’t always so lucky. "Egil and Thord played against Skallagrim, who grew tired and they came off better. But the evening after sunset, Egil and Thord began losing. Skallagrim was filled with such strength that he seized Thord and dashed him to the ground so fiercely that he was crushed by the blow and died on the spot."
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Sunday, September 28, 2008
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