Lessons from sumo

[John Fairbairn]

Although go rules are not a live issue in Japan at the moment, the Japanese approach has often bewildered a segment of the western audience. There is a useful sidelight on that approach in the January sumo tournament that has just finished. I can't remember which fight it was, but there was a spectacular concussion case earlier on, and the official response at the time was nothing short of pathetic. After a clash of heads during an illegal start, one wrestler was wobbling around the ring like a jellyfish. The referee was looking around for guidance. None was forthcoming. Sumo does not do ringside doctors. Eventually everyone tried to push the responsibility onto the wrestler, asking him repeatedly f he was OK to continue. I he has said no, he would have been disqualified, even though the clash of heads was not his fault. When the bout resumed, the other wrestler was the only ne to have a sane response - he made no real effort to engage an effectively walked himself out of the ring.

Under pressure from the media after the match, sumo's elders promised to review the procedures for such cases. The results of their deliberations were revealed last night. Essentially the decision is to go on exactly as before. Still no ringside doctors. Still disqualification for the concussee if the match does not continue. No extra powers for referees or judges. Sumo is still not for wimps.

The structure of modern Japanese pro go was originally based on sumo. The same mindset is still there.

So, if you bow to your opponent as you start a game of go and clash heads, expect to be disqualified if you throw a wobbly.

[Bill Spight]

East is East and West is West, and sometimes they do meet. Reminds me of American football.

I first became aware of the problem of football brain injury in the 70s or 80s when there were news reports of middle school children suffering concussions on the football field. They wore helmets, OC, but they were using the helmets as weapons to butt their opponents.

[SoDesuNe]

Starts at 2:38. For those interested in moving images.

[gowan]

American football is especially dangerous for young people because it can interfere with the growth of bones. This would apply to high school or younger ages. Padding, helmets, etc. don't protect against this kind of damage. This has been known for 70 years but despite lobbying by doctors, full contact football for children continues.

[mhlepore]

Maybe we'll see a sumo concussion settlement fund in the near future.

https://www.nflconcussionsettlement.com

[pgwq]

Chinese fist and palm salute.
Why not adopt the original rules - ancient Chinese WeiQi rules?

haha.

[SoDesuNe]

It's fun, let's move on to more similarities: Remember the first line misclick in one of the online pro matches?

If I remember correctly that was due to the touchpad being too sensitive. But since played stones don't move, this essentially lost the game.

Maybe even better a comparison: The one time the time-keeper told the japanese pro (was it Cho Chikun?) it was his turn to take the Ko, when it wasn't? Though, I need to check Fairbairn's Incident Room again to remember what the conlcusion was...

But anyway: The theme should be a loss due to outside circumstances.

In the same January basho as above Shodai lost his match for second place due the referee hindering his movements - no rematch of course. Just look at Shodai's gaze at the end... In football, I believe, team mates would have had a hard time keeping him from ripping the ref apart.

Starts at 8:26.

[John Fairbairn]

In the same January basho as above Shodai lost his match for second place due the referee hindering his movements

If you like referee-inspired moments in sport, you should YouTube Nigel Owens, the (now retired) Welsh rugby referee. Apart from the joy of us seeing a small man armed with nothing but a whistle and the gift of the gab keeping a horde of adrenalin-pumped incredible hulks in place, Nigel brought great humour to the role.

But one incident he had to deal with shows the almost unbelievable level of skullduggery referees in any professional sport now face. I can't remember the exact details now, but as I recall it involved a player being given a phial of fake blood by a team doctor so that he could fake a blood injury (which means he has to be substituted even when the normal number of substitutions has passed).

[SoDesuNe]

Thank you, that was indeed a joy - inspiring man!