7. Eel-Pulling was once so popular in the Netherlands that it inspired a riot
Eels are notoriously slippery and writhing customers. So what could be more fun than a competition to see who could pick one up? In the Netherlands, this cruel and unusual sport became an art form. In Eel-Pulling contests (palingtrekken), a live eel was suspended from a rope strung over a canal. Contestants would travel beneath by boat, and jump up in attempting to pull the eel from the rope. Eels were chosen for this unseemly fate on the basis of size and slipperiness. Whoever pulled down an eel, or part thereof, could keep the prize for a much-needed slap-up supper.
The sport was especially popular amongst the Dutch working classes, but was banned in the late nineteenth century on the grounds of animal cruelty. The annual palingtrekken however was not just pulling an eel from a rope, but a small glimmer of joy in the poor’s otherwise miserable lives. Thus, in 1886, with the Amsterdam poor suffering from high unemployment and a freezing winter, a policeman stopping an impromptu game sparked a riot. Rioters ripped cobbles from the road, made barricades, and fought the authorities. 3 days, 26 deaths, and 136 injuries later, the riot was quashed by the army.
