Peeball, in its various guises, has been around for well over 100 years. Power Peeball, freshly arrived on the UK’s shores, is a more recent development. But its brief history is already filled with glory, tears and no small amount of controversy.
The Accidental Invention
Miguel Pistorillo was a clerical employee at the IPF back in 1991 when he stumbled upon an idea that would change Peeball forever.
While cleaning his oven with bicarbonate of soda, Pistorillo accidentally spilt some Vimto onto the carton. He stood back in amazement as it fizzed and bubbled before his eyes.
The next morning Miguel was in the office of anyone who would listen, insisting that a dissolvable Peeball, long regarded as the Holy Grail by those dreaming of expanding the game’s commercial appeal, was finally within reach.
The men in charge were impressed. After six months of research and development, the Power Peeball we know today went into production.
Germany Takes the Lead
The first country to embrace Power Peeball was Germany, where the fierce rivalry between Gunther Kunter and Herman Versplashen became back-page news from Berlin to Düsseldorf.
The 1994 Munich Oktoberfest Tournament became the first Power Peeball competition in the world to offer prize money of more than $10,000.
As if predetermined by the sporting gods, Kunter and Versplashen met in the final, watched on television by an estimated 10 million Germans.
At his first stand, Versplashen made the crowd choke on their sausages with a world record time of 9.98 seconds. It was the first documented sub-ten-second Peeball destruction in history.
Remarkably, Kunter was equal to the challenge.
Reportedly not having visited the toilet for five straight days, he unleashed a torrential stream into the urinal, rinsing away the last remnants of the Peeball in an astonishing 9.54 seconds.
The force of his stream drenched the first four rows of spectators. It took all Kunter’s skill to prevent the ball itself from flying out of the urinal on that explosive first contact.
Peeball Goes Global
It was this epic contest that first brought Power Peeball into the public consciousness.
Semi-professional leagues sprang up in Spain, the USA, Austria, Australia, where both men and women had been competitively weeing without Peeballs for decades, Hungary and Greece.
Multi-ball contests became particularly popular with fans who wanted to see more long-distance urination. As tournaments grew longer, participation and spectator numbers grew with them.
The 1996 US Open, held in the car park of the Daytona 500, drew almost as many fans as the race itself.
An estimated 74,000 people watched on specially erected screens as the legendary Billy ‘Flushing’ Meadows dominated both the four-ball and classic events, smashing world records in both disciplines.
His then world-record time of 8.94 seconds for a single ball was described by Norris McQuirter as:
“One of the twenty greatest records in the entire book.”
The Hun with the Gun
Two years later, the record book was ripped apart by the arrival of perhaps the greatest force ever to enter the world of Peeball.
The Hun with the Gun.
The Human Water Cannon.
The Berlin Ball Breaker.
Gunther Bürsht.
Raised on the wrong side of the Wall, Bürsht’s harsh upbringing gave him a fierce determination to win.
In his autobiography, Bursting For Victory, translated into English by Kevin Keegan, Bürsht recalls discovering the sport in a Hamburg brothel and immediately posting sub-20-second times against experienced opposition.
Once the Wall fell, it wasn’t long before he was fast-tracked into Germany’s all-conquering national team. Just two days after his 35th birthday, he was named captain.
Since then, Bürsht has become perhaps the most famous Peeballer in history.
He has broken his own world record no fewer than 14 times, most recently with the remarkable 5.86 seconds recorded at the Graham Norton Classic.
Spearheaded by Bürsht’s extraordinary talent, Germany remains the dominant force in the global game.
But with Power Peeball now arriving on UK shores, it seems unlikely that the competitive nature of the British male will allow that dominance to continue without a struggle.
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