Breezy night of stick-fighting in Moruga

Soca music blasted from speaker boxes among food vendors busy conducting sales in the gayelle, the St Mary’s basketball court, from about 9 pm.

About 50 men holding their bois (sticks) paraded in the gayelle to signal the start of fighting in the individual and team categories.

The African drumming brought life to the competition as the Biche gayelle fighters came up against the St Mary’s team in the first fight. With their dance-like moves, the men dodged blows and struck their bois at their opponents, the sound of the sticks cracking on impact, moving the crowd to loud cheers and applause. Teams went through three rounds as judges sat on a makeshift gallery and took notes.

The Rio Claro gayelle fought the Longdenville stick-fighters then eventually came up against the champion, Sixth Company Valiant Brothers team.

People waited late into the night to see the champion stick-fighter O’Niel Odle, 26, of the Sixth Company team.

Odle, a three-time winner (2014, 2015, 2016), received thunderous applause when he entered the ring.

Odle told Newsday stick-fighting was the least funded event in Carnival.

Although last year’s prize was $30,000, Odle believes it should be increased to $100,000.

He said stick-fighters love the sport and competed to please the audience. Odle believes stick-fighters should be featured prominently, noting that while Government says the country is in recession, Carnival itself generates revenue and therefore the stick-fight artform should receive reasonable funding.

The NCC competition came to an end at 11 pm with few fighters sustaining minor bruises. No results were read as fighters were told to prepare for the semi-final round.

The highlight of the night was the openhouse competition where fighters fought individual matches and received money from the crowd. People placed money on a table for the men to combat each other, and stayed on for the fights until around 3 am.