International Wanzer Sports Commission

A commission that oversees the playing of sports in wanzers.

Originally created as a demonstration of the freer movement available to the new generation of wanzers in the late 0060s and early 0070s, wanzer sports have become independently popular. The most common wanzer sport is a modified version of rugby using lightly armoured wanzers and no weapons, giving them the freest range of motion. Among spacenoids, there has been some recent popularity in low-gravity basketball using old space structures that aren't spun up to full speed. Other games exist but are far less popular and often less televised.

Since most military wanzers are poor at kicking for distance, customized legs have been introduced since the 0080s with a higher lift, a more human stride capability, and occasionally piston boosters for kicking, the legality of which has been hotly debated; piston 'kickers' are currently illegal while the latest round of decisions are made. While relatively safe for the pilots (certainly much safer than military work), the crashes during a tackle are impressive on television, and wanzers are not removed from play for structural damage unless the wanzer cannot play or the pilot chooses to withdraw.

Landspinners are illegal, to the chagrin of the Britannian Union, and regulations regarding the amount of clearance on each side the torso must allow the cockpit disqualify most Knightmare Frame designs for use. Britannia has twice contested this, once in 0088 and once in 0092. Knightmare Frames currently remain mostly illegal competitors, though a modified cockpit assembly for the Glasgow released earlier this year technically passes all requirements and is likely to place the issue on a desk yet again.

The current holder of the Wanzer World Cup as of 0096 is OCU Australia, but REA Da Han Zhong is the favourite to win this year.

Attempts to bring sports to other mechanized units usually run into issues of scaling; a mobile suit game would require a much larger field and much more expensive units. Even in wanzer sports, most good teams are national due to the expense, which occasionally leads to their use as propaganda pieces for nation-states.