Today as I was typing away on my laptop my girlfriend started beating me with a cardboard tube. She wasn’t attacking me because she was mad; it was purely the first action that sprang into her mind as the weight of the cardboard tube in her hand brought upon a primal urge to bludgeon me to death.
What does it take to leap from that natural urge of restrained violence to creating a league for people to demonstrate their cardboard tube-fighting prowess on friends, family and strangers?
The Cardboard Tube Fighting League originated (of course) in the United States of America. Robert Easley started the CTFL in Seattle due to having childhood memories of hitting friends and family with cardboard tubes in mock sword fights. He came up with the idea of starting regular tournaments around the act of cardboard tube fighting.
The three core beliefs of the CTFL are: People need more ways to play and take themselves less seriously, Events can be fun without alcohol, and Cardboard sword fighting is fun.
The alcohol free aspect of the league would most likely get lost in translation in any attempt to create a CTFL in Australia though the league has had events staged in Sydney in the past.
So this is a call out to the creative/nerdy population of Perth, start your planning now so by the time Perth’s rainy season stops us hiding in our houses we can begin beating friend, foe and stranger with bits of cardboard to our hearts content.
The official Cardboard Tube Fighting League web page can be found here
A Wiki entry can be found here
Find some inspiration in the CTFL Flickr page
