Ulama: Ancient Mesoamerican Soccer

By: Bob | September 25th, 2007

As we’ve seen from some of our previous odd soccer games entries, people have been playing forms of soccer for thousands of years in places all over the globe. Today we add Mexico to the list of countries whose indigenous peoples played a variation of the beautiful game before it became the beautiful game. For roughly 3,000 years people in Mesoamerican have been playing a version of Ulama.

Played with a hard rubber wall that weighs between five and eight pounds, one version of Ulama features players only allowed to hit the ball with their hips and buttocks. The game is played on an I-shaped court with long, narrow fields that are surrounded by steep falls. The length of the field has been estimated at around 36 meters by 9 meters but some fields were at least as long as an American football field.

As you might expect, the sport has symbolic meaning and that just like modern soccer it was taken a little too seriously by some people.

For the Aztecs the playing of the ballgame also had religious significance, but where the Maya saw the game as a battle between the lords of the underworld and their earthly adversaries, the Aztecs saw it as a battle between the forces of night led by the moon and the stars represented by the goddess Coyolxauhqui and her sons the 400 Huitznahuah, and the sun personified by Huitzilopochtli.[20] But apart from holding important ritual and mythical meaning the ballgame for the Aztecs was also a sport and a pastime played for fun, and by all the social classes of Aztec society.

Young Aztecs would be taught ballplaying in the calmecac school – and those who were most proficient might become so famous that they could play professionally. Games would frequently be staged in the different city wards and markets – often accompanied by large scale betting. Diego Durán mentioned that “whenever Aztec nobles played they would bet jewels, slaves, precious stones, mantles and war attire and clothes and attire for ladies”. Also the spectators would bet, even spouses and children could be staked.

Those were the days. It is a pity you can no longer wager your children on the outcomes of games.

Versions of Ulama are still being played in parts of Mexico today. Below is a video of the hip hitting version.