Storyboard

Iraq's cocks are fighting. A hobby that attracts a lot of fans

image

Around two roosters waving their wings and fighting in an arena in the southern city of Basra, Iraqis with a hobby of cockfighting watched one of these decades-old matches that attracts many amateurs and fans.

One night, dozens of amateurs sit in dim light watching a cockfighting match on the narrow stands of a popular café, smoking cigarettes and hookahs and drinking tea.

The two red-crested decans feud and circle each other on a dirty carpet, in a bloody dance, sometimes jumping, sometimes beating each other's necks.

The confrontation, which may last an hour or two, ends, until the two birds get tired, or one of their owners intervenes to announce that his has exhausted him and defeated, explains Riad Ali Al-Saba'i, who has been practicing this hobby for almost 20 years.

For more than one night, an AFP photographer watched and documented the decades-long wrestling in Basra, Iraq's largest city.