Sporting events are a major form of entertainment and source of income across the globe. In Nigeria, sporting events are one of the elements that bring people together irrespective of status, ethnicity, and religion, some of the things that usually divide the nation.
Some sports are very popular while some are not. However, that a particular sport is not as popular as some others does not necessarily mean that particular sport is inferior to the others. It rather means that sport has not received the right attention from the right people.
That is the case of Dambe. Dambe is a traditional ‘kick’ boxing sport, which originated from Sokoto in Northern Nigeria and Niger Republic several years ago. It is a common sport for the lower class in those societies especially butchers and recently farmers, majority of whom are illiterate and only communicate in Hausa.
Fights were initially set up to herald the harvest season and to test manhood/maturity.
Presently though, all that has changed. Dambe has spread to places like Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna and Zamfara among others, garnering more converts and enthusiasts as it spreads.
Also with the wide spread acceptance of the sport, it has also become a veritable means of entertainment. Competitions are now organized at both intra and interstate levels. Dambe has become an avenue to fame.
Having attained international acceptance, many fighters have come to adopt it as a profession. This has made the sport, which used to be an occasional event a daily event. Fights now take place every day of the week starting from about 5 p.m and twice on Sunday with the 9a.m to noon fight as a major weekly event and another at 5 p.m too. Spectators now troop in from every part of Abuja and from all walks of life.
Participation in fights has, however, remained largely among the youths from Northern parts of Nigeria with a few from South-South states, particularly Edo state venturing in.
Fighters basically require about a year’s training before entering the ring to fight and training can be in any of the fighting grounds.
Basic kits for the fight include: ZERAI {TWAIN}. This is the mass of rope that fighters use as gloves. Every fighter uses this rope to tie one of the hands considered the fighting hand. This can be the right or left hand depending on the individual’s strength of the two hands. The untied hand is the defense hand.
Before the ZERAI is used, the fighters normally get cuts on their striking hand and their LAYA {Talisman} who is also like their godfather rubs some substance {charm} on the cuts. It is their strong belief that this will bring them success. They also use KARHU {Armlet} also given to them by their Talisman.
Most grounds have their “King Fighters” – Champion. The process of selecting the King Fighter is almost the same in all the fighting grounds. About 4-5 straight wins in a week can guarantee one the champions position.
One of the prominent Fighting Grounds in Nigeria is the Dei Dei Fighting Ground. According to Mallam Muhammed, a Dei Dei resident and a lover of Dambe fights, the Dambe Ground was established over 20 years ago. Lots of fighters have passed through the ground. While some have passed on, some have retired due to age.
The Dei Dei Ground consists of three major groups namely; the KUDU GROUP from Kano State, the AREWA GROUP from Sokoto State and the GURUMADA GROUP from Kebbi State. These groups compete among themselves on a daily basis.
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The ground also has two sets of musicians who entertain at every fight. Each group represents one Fighting group. Apart from adding to the entertainment, they also act as the MCs and commentators during the fights. The musicians also play a major role when a winner emerges in a fight. They lead the winner round the ground in a lap of honour. This a major part of the event as the winner is appreciated by spectators with the spraying of Naira notes. In the process, the musicians also get sprayed with some Naira notes too.
Major instruments used by the musicians include the KALANGU {Talking Drum} and the HORIA {the stick used in beating the drum}. The music is very melodious and at times pitched very high without losing its rhythm. The sounds from the drums are also accentuated by the rings on the fingers of the drummers. These drummers play basically for fights. They may also play at occasions where any of the fighters is celebrating events such as weddings.
Apart from the money sprayed the winners and the musicians, both musicians and fighters get paid well from gate takings. When they are taken for competitions, they also get paid for those.
With assistance from Ben Etuka and Aloy Atsenokhai who acted as interpreters, this writer was able to interact with some of the fighters. Huzaifa, a 14-year-old boy who has been fighting and winning fights for about two years now, believes that there isn’t and shouldn’t be any fear in participating in the fight even though Dambe is a very physical and indeed violent sport. In fact, it takes a strong heart to even watch let alone enter the ring to fight.
A major challenge for the fighters is that there is hardly any first aid available at the ringside let alone proper treatment. Fighters get seriously injured and still carry on like that.
Because of their low status too, most of the fighters are not properly kitted. This is a major challenge too. With the level the sport has developed to, some level of sponsorship would be a welcome development according to most of them.
Garkuwa, who has been fighting for 10 years, says every fighter needs to eat well before any fight. The level of compliance with this can only be left to imagination.
If properly harnessed, Dambe look well to be a major tourist attraction for the Cities where they currently exist and the country at large.
As the country seeks to diversify the economy, the Ministry of Tourism may well look in the direction of Dambe as it has the potentials to be a huge tourist attraction and foreign exchange earner.
Individuals may also look in that direction to invest in. Who knows, Dambe may well turn into Nigeria’s version of World Wide Wresting Entertainment.
Another option, which the Federal Government through the Ministry of Education might also consider is to establish a variant of normadic education for them through the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC.