[the phantom]

Trouble With Hosting in Valimar
Philip McPhantom, MESPN News

In the days leading up to the first round of the playoffs there were many in Valimar that worried they wouldn’t have their grand arena prepared to host. They had hosted Group A during the group stages, and one of the visiting teams was The Barrow-Downs, which always brought with it a rowdy group of Wights, and they had done no small amount of damage to the stadium.

The match reports that covered the final round of group play for the most part didn’t include the gory details—either because much of it took place immediately following the game, or because the Valar were leaning on the press to suppress the embarrassing happenings. Everyone knew that the mischievous Wights had cut the ropes that operate the stadium bells (during all three rounds no less), and some of the bells had been dented or scratched by Wights hurling stones at them (in order to celebrate away goals). But the Wights stepped up their vandalism in a major way for the final round—actually succeeding in cutting some of the bells down and sending them crashing down the stone shafts beneath them, as well as painting on the walls, pulling decorative plants and trees up by the roots, slashing tapestries, emptying food stands of supplies, and that’s not even half the list.

In many cases the hosts would not themselves feel embarrassed, as they would be victims—the perpetrators should feel the embarrassment! But the Valar, Manwe in particular, was taking a lot of heat for the incidents, as his new policies (made for the sake of the games) were cited as the biggest reason for the damage. The policies were curiously inconsistent (as Tulkas and Orome in particular pointed out)—they were quite hands-off and free in allowing any and all into Valinor, but then restrictive inside the stadium (outlawing even ornamental or sheathed weapons). But by far the law receiving the most criticism was the one strictly punishing those caught fighting in or around the arena, as the law made no allowance whatsoever for justification—i.e. if an Elf were attacked by a pack of Orcs he would be locked up if he fought to escape. Not to mention it would be extremely difficult for Valinor to hold and punish a foreigner (like one of the Barrow-Wights), and so really the law only effectively hamstringed the Valinoreans themselves.

The trouble-making Wights were very emboldened by the rules, knowing they could do anything they pleased and the locals wouldn’t dare try and stop them, or even be equipped to do so if they wanted to. Needless to say the results were disastrous, and the law-abiding Elves and Ainur could only watch in utter rage as the Wights desecrated their playing grounds. There were authorized security forces on hand, but it wasn’t nearly enough for the large-scale and organized attack, and they were able to take very few prisoners. Those that they did capture quickly made use of the progressive in-out passage laws and restrictions and had themselves removed to captivity in their homeland, where instead of being punished they were congratulated, while some Wights merely vanished into the vapors of the underworld and spirited themselves away, giggling all the while.

“Everyone was so excited to host in the Blessed Realm after the ban was lifted,” said Tirion’s captain Finwe. “They did rectify some of the problems that were present last time, but unfortunately they created a host of new problems by moving too fast in a new direction.” When asked if the problems would continue in the playoffs, Finwe sounded hopeful. “Well, of the 6 teams playing games in the Blessed Realm in this slate of games, only the Misty Mts is likely to bring destructive fans, and they’ll be playing here in Tirion rather than Valimar. Manwe has given me permission to have some of our own rules here, and needless to say I’ve taken precautions.”

Football fans around Arda can only hope that Finwe’s positive outlook will prove to be realistic.