Although the modern sport of Goal Roll has its origins in the urbanization and industrialization of Johto, there are reasons to believe its origins are very ancient indeed. The Alolan variant of Sandshrew can not curl up into a true ball, and Togedemaru is therefore preferred for ball sports utilizing pokemon, but a curious variety of games played in the towns around Mount Lanakila are based on sliding Sandshrew across the ice.
Although the strength competitions, which slide Sandshrew down the mountain for distance, are best known, and hockey perhaps the most played internationally (although restrictions on the export of Alolan Sandshrew require the use of artificial Sandshrew, or "pucks"), another game is far more attested in inscriptions and references in historical texts. Insofar as we can tell, one player would stand at Lanakila's peak and attempt to slide or roll a Sandshrew down the mountain, while the other players would attempt to block it with their bodies or induce it to escape. Given the large numbers of Sandshrew procured for these events, it is evident these pokemon were not entirely willing participants in this game (and perhaps in others), but gravity and momentum often proved sufficiently strong forces to ignore their opinions on the subject.
The Sandshrew games likely originated to train warriors for the Lanakila chiefdom, for if one can accurately slide a pokemon as heavy as a Sandshrew, surely they could do much better at placing even a heavy, ancient pokeball. But it is likely that the leg injuries frequently sustained in these contests also sapped the region's military strength and ultimately led to the Sandshrew Slide's suppression. Yet echoes of this ancient competition can be found in the position of goaltender in hockey, and in the ever-popular custom of the snowball fight.