Imperial Boloball League

Imperial Bolo-Ball League
Leader	Patrick Martin, Director of IGC
Foundation Date	Year 6 Day 200
Type	Sports
Professions	Bolo-Ball
Members	20
Emblem	Lion with Imperial Emblem
Motto	Its not just a game, its a way of life.
Application Process	Win Amateur League
Forum	Imperial Gaming Commission (Holonet)
Affiliation	Imperial Gaming Commission

The Imperial Bolo-Ball League is one of the main sports tournaments held within the territory of the Galactic Empire. The tournament, also known as the Auvasa Imperial League for sponsorship reasons, is played on various worlds trought the Imperial region. Many planets have more than one team, however not all are at the level to compete in the league. Currently there is not professional second tier. Teams that don't fair well in the Premier Division, due to finanial or sports reasons tend to drop out and into the amatuer leagues. Thus there have been many "one season" teams over the past four years, with the total number of teams having competed in the league being 43. Few teams have the support, skills and financial backing to mount multiple challenges to the title. Now in it's fifth season the league has been given a substansial boost in funding that it is hoped will stem the high team dropout rate and allow for a wider spectrum of teams to challenge for the title.

Previous Winners

The tournament is now in it's fifth season and has so far had three teams claim the title. Vakkar BC, as it is currently known, holds two titles, winning both the first and second championship. They remain the only team to win back to back titles. The third season was won by Urawa Reds and the fourth season champions were Corellian Hotspur.

Imperial League champions

Season	Winner
Year 6 – 7	Vakkar BC
Year 7 - 8	Vakkar BC
Year 8 - 9	Urawa Reds
Year 9 - 10	Corellian Hotspur
Year 10 - 11	N/A

Current League Teams

Home Club	Stadium Name	Planet	Capacity
Vakkar BC	Knights Stadium	Vakkar	155,000
AC Coruscant	Magnaguard Megadrome	Coruscant	110,000
Kathol Saints	St. Jina's Park	Merson	96,500
Kothlis Krusaders	Olympiastadion	Kothlis	69,250
Corellian Hotspur	Coronet Arms Park	Corellia	61,278
Fakir United	Sengir Stadium	Fakir	57,850
Napels Kings	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Imperium Dei	Unknown	Vakkar	Unknown
Pypin Pirates	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Kuhnic Spectres	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Morussin BC	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Sublight Swoopers	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Urawa Reds	Red Hell	Station	35,000
Agrilat Avengers	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Kiffex Streakers	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Maw's Avengers	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Primus Docs	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Lechia Lions	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Real Smeghead	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Myorzo BC	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown

"Big 4" Dominance

Ever since the league was established in Year 5/6 four teams have always maintained a strong grip on the league, as well as the Cup, the league has been won by three of the four and the Cup has been won by three of the four also, only once has a team not from this grouping won either major trophy. The teams that make up the "Big 4" are Vakkar BC (2 League, 1 Cup), AC Coruscant (0 League, 2 Cup), Urawa Reds (1 League, 0 Cup) and Corellian Hotspur (1 League, 0 Cup). These four teams due to their success and the large fan bases have far great financial power than the others team, something that has gauranteed their longevity in a league where many teams go bust following one season. Recently however a number of teams have declared their want to break this dominance, Sublight Swoopers making the biggest push with a pre-seasoning spending spree to match that of the any of the four.

League Trophy

This new version of the league trophy was commissioned upon Auvasa Corp. being named the new sponsor. Auvasa Corp. designed the trophy itself but hired the experts at Magnagaurd to sculp and build it. The trophy is built from Durasteel and was heavily polished to get the reflective surface. The gold durasteel used in some parts of it come from the old trophy which was melted down, while its plinth is made of berubian, a semi-precious stone. The plinth has a durasteel band around its circumference, upon which the names of the title-winning clubs are engraved. berubian's green colour is also representative of the green field of play.

When a team wins the league at the end season they are presented with the real trophy which they put on display at their homegrounds for the following year. Following this the trophy, unless they defend their title, will be replaced by a replica. However the league has created a rule to reward those teams the prove to be consistant in the winning of the league by allowing teams that win the league five times to keep the real trophy.

The trophy stands at 80cm tall, 45cm wide, 25cm deep and it weighs 27 Kg. With an estimated value of 2,350,000 credits.

League Sponsorship

Following its inception in year six a sponsorship deal was signed with Cloud City for four seasons. This deal gave the League a much needed boost in revenue during its infancy stage. However with the league becoming more popular and team revenues increasing from other areas the deal with Cloud City was deemed too low and was not renewed. Instead a controversial deal was agreed with Auvasa Corp., a newly formed Communications company owned and backed by the Martin family a member of which was an Imperial Officer. The deal was frowned up by many as it was a company from outside the Imperial sphere, while the controversy grew when Auvasa Corp. took over one of the oldest teams in the league, Vakkar BC. Others however backed the deal seeing the improved income coming Auvasa Corp. and the speciality it had with broadcasting as something that could take the IBL to the next level, a truly galactic one. The deal with Auvasa Corp. is for an initial two season period but has the option of being extend for atleast another four.

League Violence

Vakkar Incident

Crowd trouble and fan fighting is nothing new to the Imperial League with minor scuffles a frequent occurance at games and following them but it reached its peacked during the 8/9 Season when the reigning champions, Vakkar BC, were playing against the soon to be champions, Urawa Reds.

Vakkar had been the champions of the first two seasons and were hoping to get the third in a row. The fans had high expectations which were quickly crushed following the amazing performances of Urawa Reds that season. With the gap between the two teams 15 points with seven games to go, Vakkar knew this was a game they could not afford to lose, losing would mean they had lost the title. To make matters worse the game was being played at Vakkar's home grounds. The game started well for Vakkar but quickly went downhill as Urawa took command. The final score was 4-2 for Urawa. When the final whistle blew the Vakkar fans went wild. The barriers seperating the two groups were broken and fighting broke out acorss the stadium. This incident soon worsened as what started as fist fights in the stadium turned into a fire fight outside as a small group of hardcore Vakkar fans had smuggled weapons to the game and began firing on the crowd of Urawa Red fans. They inturn began to hurl debris at the Auvasa fans. The situation was more than the local security could handle and the nearby Imperial Forces were called to provide assistance. Following two hours to fighting the crowd was brought under control and many arrests made. The final toll seen 1,379 injured with 167 dead including 3 Imperial troops.

This incident led to Vakkar BC being deducted 24 points in the following season, ruling the championship out once more, were fined 29,000,000 credits to cover the damage and were forced to play their home games with no fans present for 8 games. The total affect of which left Vakkar BC on the verge of collapse until they were bought by the current owners. Urawa Reds who had seen 133 fans die to this day refuse to play Auvasa BC on their home grounds and this game has been moved to a neutral location.

League Records

Most Wins in a Season: Urawa Reds
Most clean sheets in a season: Corellian Hotspur
Most goals (Team) in a season: Urawa Reds
Most goals (Player) in a season: Name Name (27) (Corellian Hotspur)
Most wins overall: Vakkar BC
Most goals overall (Team): Vakkar BC
Most goals overall (player): Drockia Teabi (83) (Vakkar BC)