KIRKWALL, Scotland — William Thomson”s family had played this sport for centuries, so he understood that he needed to choose between two strategies for the annual Christmas Day ba” game. The scrawny ...

This paper focuses on the practice of playing folk football on Christmas Day and New Year's Day in Kirkwall, Orkney, and on the idea of "embodiment" in traditional games. The comparison of empirical ...

Ex-Ba’ players and enthusiasts are being encouraged to share their memories and memorabilia of the game at an event being ...

The streets of Kirkwall, Orkney come to a standstill as the "Down the Gates" and the "Up the Gates" battle it out in this traditional Norse ball game. Margaret Tait records the sights and sounds of ...

KIRKWALL, Scotland — William Thomson’s family had played this sport for centuries, so he understood that he needed to choose between two strategies for the annual Christmas Day ba’ game. The scrawny ...

The ba’, which refers to both the game and the ball with which it is played, can last anywhere from four minutes to nine hours in freezing temperatures and hurricane-force winds. The ba’ is played ...