In a parallel universe, the battle for New France unfolded differently. The year was 1759. Wolfe and Montcalm massed their armies on the Plains of Abraham. Muskets were readied, but no shots were fired. The two generals stepped forward with their eight bravest men. All removed their belts. At equally spaced intervals, the 18 strapped themselves to three long poles carved from lodgepole pines. An Acadian volunteer on the French side tossed in a soccer ball. And the game was afoot.
It was hard fought, with witty play on both sides. The British “horseshoe-formation offense” failed to materialize—the soldiers could only move side to side, after all, and only a few feet. The favoured French were a spirited, but not very cohesive, side, and they lost finally when Montcalm accidentally put the ball in his own net. (The French general’s last words, “Meilleurs Deux Sur Trois?”—“Best two out of three?”—were lost to the wind.)
For 16 days this winter, beginning Jan. 30, 2009, on those same, famed Plains, you can rewrite history (unofficially) just that way. One of the events at the annual Québec Winter Carnival is “Giant Table Soccer Game,” wherein players really do strap themselves to poles and move laterally, as a unit, over the trampled snow, trying to kick the ball through the spaces in the opposing line, like in the arcade game.
Giant human table soccer tells you all you need to know about how Quebeckers approach winter. In Québec City, QC, the phrase “weather permitting” does not compute. Weather permits anything as long as you dress right. (This is, after all, the city that builds a luxury hotel out of ice from scratch every year—and people pay a lot of money to sleep on king-sized ice blocks, wrapped in furs.) Winter in Quebec isn’t something you wait out. It’s something you get out there and enjoy—the more eccentrically the better, alone or in teams. (“Shirts vs. Skins” is, however, not recommended.)
www.bonjourquebec.com www.carnaval.qc.ca/en/index.asp