his Sunday at 11 am we have an unavoidable appointment at Cala Bona beach. We will be able to appreciate one of the most ancestral sports that made our islands famous in the times of the Carthaginians when they changed the Balearic name to “the islands of the stone-throwers”. Much has happened since then but the tradition continues more present than ever more than twenty centuries after the first reference to the Balearic slingers which dates back to the year 406 BC referring to their participation in the Greco-Punic Wars.
Organized by the Club de Tiro con Honda de Son Servera, a reference in the competitions of the Federacion Balear de Tiro con Honda, have contributed great shooters included among the best in the history of the federation as: Modesto Mañas, Antonio Garrido and Javier Luque, we started this journey through social networks, showing our sport and hobby, and thanking our sponsors for their confidence in our teams.
With the knowledge provided by the Balearic Islands Sling Shooting Federation, we will get into the history of sling shooting and the rules that govern the competitions.
The Federation was founded in 1984 with the aim of paying a well-deserved tribute to our ancestors, the Balearic slingers. With their skill in the handling of the sling, the slingers not only defended our islands from foreign invasions but also made them known far and wide many years before they became a major tourist destination.
The first mention of the Balearic Slingers dates back to 406 BC and refers to their participation in the Greco-Punic Wars in which the armies of the Greek Empire clashed with those of the Carthaginian Empire on the island of Sicily. Several years earlier, in 654 BC, the ships of one of these powerful empires, the Carthaginian empire, a merchant and seafaring empire, arrived on the largest island of the Pitiusas and founded the city of Ebussus. Not content, they also tried to conquer the neighbouring islands, Mallorca and Menorca, but they did not succeed as they were met with stones, stones thrown in a very precise and accurate manner by the slingers who protected the coasts of the islands. For this reason, the Carthaginians called the islands the Balearic Islands, which in their language meant “the islands of the stone-throwers”.
During a period of approximately four hundred years, between the 4th and 1st centuries B.C., the Balearics made sling shooting their main professional activity and our slingers took part in numerous battles throughout the Mediterranean.
Referring to the competition and with the specified knowledge.
Nowadays the Balearic Islands Sling Shooting Federation has more than 100 members who are part of 10 federated clubs: Unió Excursionista Menorquina (UEM) de Menorca, Club Ciclista Defensora Sollerense, Club Honderos Lloseta, Club Foners Sa Pobla, Club Foners Mallorca, Club Foners Ciutat de Palma, Club Foners Son Servera, Espanya Hoquei Club, Club Foners de Llucmajor and Club Joventut Atlètica Sant Antoni.
Four leagues are played each season and each has its own rules.