An Uncle and A Cock Fight

Cockfighting is an ancient and perhaps cruel sport found in India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam,the Carribean Islands, Malaysia and Indonesia. Perhaos unkown to many, the United States also has a long history of cockfighting, and where good fighting cocks are specially bred for sale at top market prices. In England cockfighting is an exciting sport. Shakespeare's "Henry V" made mention of the sport. Many kings, princes and noble men have long been in favour of
of this sport.

Check this out - http://www.e-sabong.com!!!!! Yes there are so many websites dedicated to this ancient sport.

I have an interesting story to share with you.

In the 1970's when folks were still unpretentious and every day was a working day if possible, most families I knew paid attention to how much they spent and how much their fathers brought home. Most people in Sibu lived very very frugal lives. Saving money was a great art. Spending money unnecessary was almost a sin.

ONe day, my third uncle was invited to go along to a fun place just to "look". Normally my third aunt would make sure that he had only a small bit of money in his pocket, so that he would not buy beer or stay too long in town.

On this occasion, unknown to my uncle, his brothers-in-law actually took him to a secret cock fighting stadium where betting was going on in a heated manner. My poor innocent uncle placed his first ever bet and he dared not even look at the faces of the other gamblers. In about 2 minutes, the bird belonging to his brother-in-law was killed and he lost all his money.

Now he was terrified because his brother in law asked him to hold the dead bird, which was bleeding very badly. My aunt definitely knew how much the bird was because it was specially purchased by her own brother for breeding in the farm. Furthermore, if the police came, he would have been the first one to be arrested because he had the best evidence in his hand.

While his brothers-in-law continued to bet, he quickly took a taxi to our house. He asked my mother to cook the chicken and he sat down at a corner to think of a way to tell his wife how he lost all his money. Definitely he was not going to tell his wife about the cock fight. Every one involved would get into trouble.

It was hilarious. My mother and my sisters and he had a big laugh together, saying that he should never have told a lie about where he was going. Now he had to admit to his wife that he had lost his money.

The chicken was not easy to cook as it was very tough. However, it was quite tasty.

When it was time for my uncle to take the boat back , my mother slipped some money into his pocket. Furthermore she also put some food and other things into a basket for him to bring back to his wife, saying that all those should be considered as bought by him.

My shy, timid uncle finally went back with stooping shoulders. He never went to another cockfight again.

To this day, I still remember how hilarious it was for him to come to our house in a taxi, carrying a limp bird and with a scared look.

It was very difficult to replace that expensive fighting cock. It took his brothers-in-law and he almost a year to save up enough money to buy a similar bird and start breeding again. His brothers-in-law were so certain that they had a winner. But instead the cock took only took two minutes to fall. My aunt was a very stern and serious woman. And she would stand no nonesense from her husband or her brothers.

His brothers-in-law continue to secretly gamble on fighting cocks. But he never went again. Because he could not face the music!! And any losses would have been too much for his heart.

My uncle after all was a loving husband and he did not want to upset his wife in anyway. Gambling is never in our family's blood.

Special notes from Wikipeadia:

On May 3, 2007 President Bush signed into law the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, which criminalizes the transferral of cockfighting implements across state or national borders, and increases the penalty for violations of federal animal fighting laws to three years imprisonment.

In 2006 the United States Virgin Islands passed a bill which outlaws the use of artificial spurs. Thus far the bill has not been enforced.

Cockfighting has a higher level of social acceptance in Puerto Rico than in Louisiana. It also has a much larger human population and pool of fighting cocks than the Virgin Islands or Guam. Metal spurs causes a high mortality of birds. With the interstate transport ban Puerto Rico is likely to be the last holdout. The United States Virgin Islands government is trying to move the sport towards Gamecock Boxing.