User:Themintyfresh
A jong offer (/jɔŋ ɔfə/ yong offər, from Afrikaans meaning “young sacrifice"), is a ritual involving sacrificing young children to influence future sporting events. Although jong offers can be used to affect the overall outcome of a particular match or series of matches, they are more commonly used to influence the performance of an individual player in a specific match.
Unlike most cases of human sacrifice or ritual killing, a jong offer has no religious affiliation.
History
[edit]While offerings and sacrifices predate recorded history, the first known case of a jong offer occurred during a qualification match for the 1974 FIFA World Cup.
Krag van Kinders
[edit]In 1973, Krag van Kinders, a Congolese football player, scored three goals in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Zaire after effecting a jong offer. Van Kinders was killed in a bizarre accident during the celebrations that followed. Zaire went on to qualify for the World Cup.
Duhet Fitojë
[edit]After seeing van Kinders’s success, Albanian footballer Duhet Fitojë began using jong offers to improve his then-lacking performance in the Albanian Superliga. He led Dinamo to three consecutive victories from 1974 to 1977 and again in his last full season with the club in 1980. Dinamo also won the Albanian Cup in 1974 and 1978.
Possible dangers of jong offers
[edit]Fitojë is probably more famous for his antics during a qualification match for the 1982 FIFA World Cup between Albania and West Germany. There are claims his outburst demonstrates the danger of excessive jong offers.
Only minutes into the game, Fitojë was given a straight red card for removing West German defender Schöne Füße’s pants and spanking him on the pitch. Fitojë was visibly upset after Füße used his arm to block Fitojë’s attempt on goal. While many blame French referee Jean Aveugle for failing to see Füße’s obvious handball, FIFA stated Fitojë’s tantrum was inappropriate and tainted the public image of all international football players.
This kind of drama in the game is not respectable at this level. I do not have children, but I would not want them to see this. Spanking does not belong in international football.
— FIFA spokesman Mand Affåord
Fitojë retired from both club and international football by committing suicide in 1982.
Controversy
[edit]Jong offers remain a highly contested issue despite numerous studies failing to observe any obvious influence jong offers have. Most conclude that a jong offer is a placebo ritual.
Despite this, jong offers have been banned by many sport governing bodies claiming they give players and teams with an abundant supply of children an unfair advantage. Those defending jong offers claim such a ban should include all other rituals and superstitions performed by both players and spectators.
The debate has produced many “pro-jong” groups, the most notable being JIGGLE.
Incidents leading to bans
[edit]The following cases led to jong offers being banned in their respective sports:
- In 1986, French rugby union player Marc Jambe kicked a penalty goal from a distance of 87 metres. Further increasing the difficulty of the kick was the borderline hurricane that Jambe was kicking into.
- In 1987, American football quarterback Sidney Drake caught his own 60 yard pass to score a touchdown.
- In 1989, Japanese baseball pitcher Kōsoku Surō pitched so fast that he broke the hands of three catchers, split eight bats, broke 12 fingers, cracked seven ribs and killed one batter. Despite a team of electrical and software engineers working furiously during the game to record the speed of his pitches, nothing they devised could record objects moving at such excessive speeds and, as such, did not accurately record the speed of a single pitch.
- In 1992, New Zealand rugby league player Toto Hiainu injured nine opposing players in tackles. Two of the injured players later succumbed to their injuries.
- In 1995, Indian cricketer Asambhava Sajagatā took six catches from within extremely close proximity to the batsman in a single One Day International match against England. The last of the catches, which many claim as “beyond impossible”, involved Sajagatā catching the ball after it rebounded off his chest. Despite the initial impact causing a cardiac arrest, Sajagatā retained his grip on the ball and the batsman was dismissed.
- In 2002, Russian martial artist Mnogo Krovi defeated his third round opponent in a ninjutsu tournament by means of dismemberment. However, Krovi was disqualified for using an illegal move leading up to the dismemberment. The opponent, despite technically winning the match, could not progress further as the tournament had banned the use of prosthetics.