Pillow fighting goes professional

They are not allowed to scratch, gouge or pull each other’s hair, but the women fighters of North America’s newest professional sport wield a potentially punishing weapon: a standard fibre-filled bed pillow. Hundreds of New Yorkers were queueing up on Friday night for the US debut of the Pillow Fight League (PFL), Canadian invention that sounds like a male fantasy but is threatening to become a popular sport for women who enjoy behaving badly. From its beginnings in a Canadian nightclub last year, the PFL (slogan: “Fight like a girl”) has suddenly turned into a cult attraction with 22 fighting members, an official (male) referee and a list of rules that forbid punching, low blows and “rude, lewd or suggestive behaviour”. It is also an offence to stuff a brick in a pillow. Bouts last five minutes and are won by pinning opponents to the ground (sometimes with the help of a pillow round their throat) or belting them so hard that they surrender. The pillows are standard issue with man-made fibres, because real down tends to settle at the bottom of a swinging pillow and can deliver a knockout punch.