I was the only person whom had signed up for the cock fighting tour offered by my hostel, and so my guide Ronny picked me up and we made our way to a village (Col. Eugenio Perez) about 15 minutes outside of Leon on a motorbike.
We arrived in a small crowded compound, mostly filled with men. At the entrance was a betting table, surrounded by men shouting.
Seeing that I was the only tourist, carrying a camera around trying to get a good shot of whatever they are doing, they made way for me.
On the table was a big circle with a lot of red and black dots, and a small funnel like thing in the centre. Ronnie explained to me that they throw a ball through the funnel and the winner will be whoever that had bet on where the ball lands.
From what I gathered, it seemed to work in a similar fashion as roulette in the casinos.
Making our way further inwards into the compound, there were lines of coops and a weighing station, used to weigh the chickens. The weight would be used to determine the "class" they are in, to allow for pairing of chickens in similar class for the match.
Next to the weighing station was the fighting ring. There were a lot of people standing around the ring, shouting away, as a cock fighting match was taking place.
This is the national sport for Nicaragua – bookies were collecting bets from the crowd, men were shouting and cheering at the cocks extremely passionately throughout the match, and when the match ended, you could see people jumping for joy or into the ring, raising the winning bird, as they had helped them win a good sum of money for the day.
Each match lasts for about 15 minutes or until one gets killed.
In order to revved the cocks for the match, they would use a random chicken and constantly brushed at the cock that was to be in a match to provoke it, so that when it was time to fight, they would be all revved up for attack.
Each of the fighting cocks also had a small sharp hook like thing attached to one of their legs, which is used as part of the attacks in the match.
Ronny shared that the best cocks used to fight were the skinnier ones, so that they would be nimble enough to attack or avoid counter attacks.
I watched a few matches, the fastest match lasted only for about 2.5 minutes, while a couple managed to barely survive through the entire 15 minutes with occasional time outs, just like in a regular boxing match.
It was somewhat gruesome and heart wrenching, seeing the chickens fight it out and getting blood all over their feathers, as they try to peck at each other or using the attachment on its leg to cut the other chicken.
Watching the crowd and how passionate the people were with the sport and feeling the atmosphere in the air was what I enjoyed more of.
Ronny shared that in the past, pit bulls were pitched against another to fight, but it had been illegalised. When that happened, and needing another avenue for betting, they came up with cork fighting.
I stayed for about 4 or 5 matches, until I could stomach no more, and asked Ronnie to sent me back.
Now, as I look at chickens roaming around, I couldn’t help but wonder if any of them would be suffering a horrible fate in a ring.
Below is a video of the fastest match – Warning, it can be gruesome to watch.
We arrived in a small crowded compound, mostly filled with men. At the entrance was a betting table, surrounded by men shouting.
Seeing that I was the only tourist, carrying a camera around trying to get a good shot of whatever they are doing, they made way for me.
On the table was a big circle with a lot of red and black dots, and a small funnel like thing in the centre. Ronnie explained to me that they throw a ball through the funnel and the winner will be whoever that had bet on where the ball lands.
From what I gathered, it seemed to work in a similar fashion as roulette in the casinos.
Making our way further inwards into the compound, there were lines of coops and a weighing station, used to weigh the chickens. The weight would be used to determine the "class" they are in, to allow for pairing of chickens in similar class for the match.
Next to the weighing station was the fighting ring. There were a lot of people standing around the ring, shouting away, as a cock fighting match was taking place.
This is the national sport for Nicaragua – bookies were collecting bets from the crowd, men were shouting and cheering at the cocks extremely passionately throughout the match, and when the match ended, you could see people jumping for joy or into the ring, raising the winning bird, as they had helped them win a good sum of money for the day.
Each match lasts for about 15 minutes or until one gets killed. In order to revved the cocks for the match, they would use a random chicken and constantly brushed at the cock that was to be in a match to provoke it, so that when it was time to fight, they would be all revved up for attack.
Each of the fighting cocks also had a small sharp hook like thing attached to one of their legs, which is used as part of the attacks in the match.
Ronny shared that the best cocks used to fight were the skinnier ones, so that they would be nimble enough to attack or avoid counter attacks.
I watched a few matches, the fastest match lasted only for about 2.5 minutes, while a couple managed to barely survive through the entire 15 minutes with occasional time outs, just like in a regular boxing match.
It was somewhat gruesome and heart wrenching, seeing the chickens fight it out and getting blood all over their feathers, as they try to peck at each other or using the attachment on its leg to cut the other chicken.
Watching the crowd and how passionate the people were with the sport and feeling the atmosphere in the air was what I enjoyed more of.
Ronny shared that in the past, pit bulls were pitched against another to fight, but it had been illegalised. When that happened, and needing another avenue for betting, they came up with cork fighting.
I stayed for about 4 or 5 matches, until I could stomach no more, and asked Ronnie to sent me back.
Now, as I look at chickens roaming around, I couldn’t help but wonder if any of them would be suffering a horrible fate in a ring.
Below is a video of the fastest match – Warning, it can be gruesome to watch.
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