BEIJING — If there is any sport at the Paralympics with the potential to cross over and become mainstream entertainment, it is “murderball” – the violent crashing and bashing of the gladiator athletes of wheelchair rugby.
The sport, already celebrated in a popular documentary movie and cheered by crowds of thousands at international tournaments, is introducing new rules after the Beijing Paralympics to speed up the game and make it even more aggressive. Its organizers freely admit their long-term goal: create a professional league and win a television contract.
“Mainstream is the dream,” said Marco Dispaltro, a Canadian coach and former player. “And it's not a pipe dream. Every time people see our sport, they agree that it's a spectacular sight. The progress since I first started playing in 1993 has been phenomenal.”
Canada is one of the powerhouses of wheelchair rugby – originally dubbed murderball when it was invented by a group of quadriplegics from Winnipeg in the 1970s. The rivalry between Canada and the United States was the subject of the 2005 movie Murderball, which was nominated for an Academy Award.
Canada's Fabien Lavoie, right, defends the ball in his lap as he plays in the Canada-U.S. match in wheelchair rugby at the paralympics in Beijing on Sunday. (Natalie Behring for the Globe and Mail)
The Americans are the reigning world champions, but Canada is the only team to beat them. Canada's victory over the United States at the Athens Paralympics in 2004 was the climax of Murderball.
On Sunday, in their first Paralympics showdown since Athens, the Americans won a measure of revenge with a 37-32 triumph over Canada in front of a raucous crowd of several thousand fans at a university gymnasium in Beijing.
It was a closely fought game, with the usual trash-talking and muscular collisions, and it set the stage for a potential gold-medal game between the teams Tuesday.
Many of the players on both teams are veterans of the classic 2004 match, so the emotions were running high.
“It always stings a little to lose, but we feel confident from this game,” said Fabien Lavoie, one of the top Canadian scorers. “We have all the tools to beat the Americans. They get very nervous against us, and we're going to use that card.”
Canada advanced to Monday's semi-finals thanks to earlier victories over China and Japan. In the semis, Canada will face Australia, while the United States will take on Britain, with the winners advancing to the gold-medal game.
“It's gold medal or bust,” Dispaltro said. “There's always a rivalry between us and the Americans and – dare I say it – a hatred. They fear us a little.”
Wheelchair rugby, also known as quad rugby, is the world's fastest-growing wheelchair sport. It has elements of hockey, basketball, football, handball and rugby.
Most of its players are quadriplegics, but it is a full-contact sport, with plenty of machismo, tattoos and testosterone, although one of the 12 Canadian players is a woman.
Erika Schmutz made history on Saturday against China by becoming the first woman to score in Paralympics wheelchair rugby competition.
The crashes are so violent, players are sometimes knocked to the floor – and quickly righted by coaches who rush onto the court. Nobody wears a helmet – hence the “murderball” nickname. Their chariot-like wheelchairs are battered and scratched from the crashes with opposing players.
Lavoie predicts the new rules being put into place after the Paralympics will create even more excitement.
Each team will have to score within 40 seconds or give up the ball and will have to cross the half-court line within 12 seconds. “The game is going to be even crazier and more intense,” Lavoie said.
David Willsie, the 40-year-old captain of the Canadian team, agrees the new rules will make wheelchair rugby even more appealing to fans and television audiences.
“I think there's huge potential,” he said in an interview Sunday. “It's already fast and hard-hitting, and these rules are just the next step.”
There is already a U.S. quad rugby league, with eight teams in its top division and six Canadian players on the top teams. This could ultimately become the foundation for a professional league, Willsie said.
Many of the top Canadian players are already training full-time, financed by Sport Canada and sometimes by workers compensation payments.
“They train just as hard as able-bodied athletes,” Dispaltro said.
Canada believes it has an advantage in wheelchair rugby because it invests more in the science of the sport. Among its support staff are physiologists, physiotherapists and sports psychologists. The Canadians do video analysis of opponents and create special mixtures of sports drinks for the team.
Overheating is always a problem in wheelchair rugby since most players cannot sweat, due to their neck injuries. But the Canadians have developed a system of cooling vests, filled with ice packs, to cool the players during breaks in the action. Even the Americans don't have this system.
“We are one of the most high-tech teams,” Lavoie said.
