THE SPORT OF KNIGHTS
A bugle sounds from the starting line at the far side of the field, and a roar goes up from the crowd. The sound of horses’ hooves pounding the turf becomes increasingly louder (punctuated by the rapid clinking of lance meeting steel) as horse and rider approach the track, packed with spectators on a lazy Fall afternoon. Quick as a flash, they speed on past towards the finish
line in a cloud of dust. Thus, the annual running of “Le Tournoi de la Ville Platte” a highlight of the Louisiana Cotton Festival held in Ville Platte during October of each year gets underway. It is the revival of the ancient French “Sports of Knights”, a joust or tournament requiring great speed, agility, and accuracy on the part of both the rider and his mount. Originally introduced here in the 1800’s by early settlers of the region, many of whom came to this part of the country after serving in the armies of Napoleon, the Tournoi was run as late as the 1890’s, then gradually faded away. However, during the Fourth of July celebration in 1948, two gentlemen, who were still living in Ville Platte and who had ridden in the last Tournoi in the late 1880’s, helped a group of young citizens and a group of patriotic WWIII veterans to organize the ancient sport again. The two fine gentlemen accredited with reviving and reorganizing Le Tournoi were Judge J.D. Le Tournoi’s rebirth was in 1952, and for the next two years it was run as part of the Fourth of July festivities. Later, when the Louisiana Cotton Festival came into existence it was dropped as a Fourth of July and began to run in conjunction with this Festival instead. In 1958 The Louisiana Tournoi Association was chartered. The Tournoi (French for tournament) is a humane modification of the old-style joust when mounted knights charged one another with lance, sword and mace. Minus the latter two weapons, today’s rider (mounted atop a speed horse) carriers a long and slender lance which he uses to put through a small iron ring (2 ½ inches in diameter) as he races his horse at neck-breaking speed around a quarter-mile circular track. Along the track 7 rings, representing 7 enemies of cotton (flood, drought, boll weevil, bollworm, silk, rayon and nylon), are suspended from posts. 20 riders take their turns, making 3 rounds, trying to lance as many rings as possible in the shortest time.
