The brave new world of the Web has provided an international forum for many forms of sport and competition, from the curling rinks of Britain to the subway-surfing streets of Rio.

To that list add a "sport" that many countries consider too bloody to be legal -- cockfighting. Pitting poultry against poultry in the ring, the game is banned as inhumane in many lands, where it thrives underground. But it comes into the light of day on Pitmaster, a home for cockfighting enthusiasts around the globe.

With all the latest links, the Pitmaster site gets down to the very giblets of a sport that its enthusiasts consider an exciting heritage.

While animal rights concerns have cockfighting banished to dank illegal basements in many places and shunned by the international athletic community, you can see the argument that the violent freak show is not so far removed from midget tossing or the new American pastime, professional wrestling.

"Cockers," as fans of the sport call themselves, view their pastime as a way of life and chicken breeding as a challenge.

Fans Worldwide

The game thrives in the streets of the Philippines, Southeast Asia and much of Central America. Although you won't hear much about it in the mainstream American press, cockfighting has always been huge in the American South and Southwest, with associations such as the Texas Gamefowl Breeders Association and the United Gamefowl Breeders Association combating mainstream America's perceptions of this controversial pastime.

Into The Hen House

The Web site brings you inside the wacky world of fowl grudge matches.

The breeding farms are where it all starts. Among the favorite breeds for raisin' are Hatches, Clarets, Roundheads and Butchers. Many consider the Roundhead Battlecock to be the powerhouse, the Cassius Clay of game birds, but others will tell you that a Hatch with a long knife is a sure thing in the thick of the fight.

Any coach worth his weight in feed will tell you that conditioning is the road to victory. Training -- physical as well as mental -- can transform an underachieving hack into a battle cock with the right attitude and skill.

"In preparing fowl for battle, many people play loud music in the cockhouse 24 hours a day to accustom the birds to the loud noises they will experience at the pit," Pitmaster notes on its Nutrition, Stress and the Gamecock page, adding, "This is a good idea."

Advice about mental conditioning can give your bird the winning edge: "When you spar your roosters, have a couple of friends come over and yell at each other and wave their arms around to simulate the crowd your rooster will surely be surrounded by at the pit."

Fowl Language

There are plenty of rooms in which to post and chat, and these folks know how to talk chicken. You'll get the latest breeding tips and lowdown on where the action is hot. Take a gander at the Gallery of Champions to see those burly birds who have survived to fight another day.

The graphics and HTML are very primitive and straightforward, but the volume of knowledge on the site is impressive.

But Web surfers who have a thirst to see the birds going at each others' throats are going to be disappointed. There aren't any play-by-play accounts of actual matches; most of the info focuses on raising hens and ranking the current big honchos in the cockfighting world.

Where's the streaming video when you want it?

People interested in joining the cockfighting bandwagon are urged to subscribe to the print mag Grit and Steel and visit other sites in the Game Cock Web Ring.

Do it for the chickens.