The nature of Buce, where the player must kick the footbag into a bin (which serves as the goal)
Buce is a fast-paced team sport involving an even amount of players (from 2 a team to 10 a team) in which a footbag is kicked around the field with the aim of landing in contact with, or inside, a bin. It involves lots of teamwork and co-ordination, and is generally respected as a difficult game to master and a captivating game to watch.
The 2009 Buce League finished in January 2009, marking the end of the summer Buce season. It is being succeeded by the 2009 Winter Buce League.
History
The scoring system for Buce, where the +2 pointer enters the bin and the others touch the bin under differing circumstances. The green line initially bounced outside the O.B square and therefore was not counted.
The existence of the game Buce started in Australia in early 2007 when a small group of sportsmen decided to evolve their normal footbag routine to involve a competitive team game that would involve more players of all skill levels. They invented the background concepts of Buce and over a period of 6 months, the rules were perfected. Since then the game has grown popularity quickly and is a regularly played sport in Newcastle.
In late 2008, Buce became a popular subject for media projects. Of them, the now discontinued film Buce for Beginners and National Buce News have created the biggest reception from Buce players.
Nature of the Game
Traditionally the bins are put around 15 metres away from each other and in a freestyle fashion, players juggle and pass between each other to eventually get the hackeysack into the bin. If the hackeysack touches the ground, the team of the player who touched it last before it hit the ground forfeits the sack to the opposing team, who then serve from the point on the ground that the sack landed. If a player manages to get the sack into the bin, it is called a ‘buce’. It is worth 2 points. If it touches the outside of the bin and doesn’t go in, it is worth one point. If a sack lands within the out of bounds area on the full and rolls into contact with the bin, it is worth 1 point.
To prevent scuffling and fighting in the goal area, and an influx of easy buces, there is an area of 2.1 metres squared that is out of bounds. The bin is placed in the middle of this square.
Traditionally Buce is considered non-contact.
A Typical Buce field diagram, where the black squares around the bins are the out-of-bounds lines, and the dark blue squares around them are the double-point lines.
Laws of the Game
Typically, these are the official rules of Buce. They often get modified to fit the game size or game seriousness.
- No one is to enter the out-of-bounds square surrounding the bin. If a player does so and comes in contact with the playing of the sack, the other team may call for a penalty.
- If a buce or 1 pointer is scored from outside the double-point line, the points that the player earned is doubled.
- No deliberate contact is to be made. If a player uses a part of their body to inhibit the movement or control of another player, the other player may call for a penalty.
- A player who is serving the sack can not serve the sack to himself or score off the serve; the sack has to come in contact with another player after the server has kicked it for the points to count.
- No serve is to be kicked more than 6 metres in length from where the hackeysack lands. If this is breached, the other team will take it 6 metres back from where the original player served the hackeysack.
- A penalty is exactly like a serve, except it can not be taken inside the double-point zone. The server can, however, score without the sack’s contact from another player. Penalties do not have a limit to how far they can be kicked.
- The sack may come in contact with any part of the body except the forearm and the hand.
- If a player stalls the sack, they cannot move with it, only pivot or pass it off.
Media
There is a huge amount of media of Buce on the internet. Some is on [buce.tk YouWiki], some on Youtube. As a result of the commercialisation of Buce, a news broadcast has been created called National Buce News, and some documentaries about the sport.