First, thanks to Brett Sayles from Pexels for the image that opens this article
When we talk about sports, the first word that usually comes to mind is football. After that, maybe cricket if you’re in the UK, or if you’re in the U.S, baseball …It’s usually our favorite sport that springs to mind first. So, it might be tennis, or maybe basketball, wrestling, rugby, and more often than not it’s the national game. But that’s about it.
These are all conventional sports and most of us love one or two of them. What we tend to forget is we grew up playing some of the weirdest games. Games such as tag and hide n seek, or kiss chase with the girls (not sure that’s allowed these days!) if you were lucky. And somewhere between then and all the growing up we’ve done, we lost most of them. Or did we?
Hell, no, we didn’t. I recently found out some of the stupidest, and weirdest sports in the world that people of our generation have been playing and I didn’t even know about them. Damn, I could have been a world champion for all I know. And you too. These ain’t CrossFit, or for the faint-hearted.
This one didn’t actually make it on my list of the 5 weirdest sports in the world but it came close and is worth a mention. There’s one game from India called Kabaddi, I saw it on the tv, it’s like a game of tag for adults, played on a court. There are two teams and they take it in turns to cross into the other team’s side of the court, trying to tag as many of the opposing team members as they can. The more team members they tag the more points they score – but here’s what makes it weird…
Whoever crosses into the opposing side’s half of the court must start shouting “Kabbadi, Kabbadi” over and over without stopping and without taking a breath before he crosses the center line and he has to keep repeating it whilst he’s trying to tag as many of the opponents as he can in 30 seconds. If he stops shouting of takes a breath in that 30 seconds (even for an instant!), he’s out and has to go back to his own side. Here are the rules to kabbadi
Turns out the world is full of some seriously weird sports. But I was asked to make a choice, and so I picked the following five.
CHESS BOXING
It’s like mixing pizza and champagne. In a ring, brutality and intelligence, mixed to make this a very weird game to play. here are the basic rules: two minutes of boxing and four of chess, that’s about it -so, let’s get ready to rumble. The idea of chess boxing came about in 1992 by comic artist (a comedian – surprise, surprise!) Enki Bilal , but it was Lepe Rubinghwho put it into practice in 2003.
There’s even a world chess boxing association – and a world chess boxing organization –
EXTREME IRONING
This ‘sport’ was born in Leicester, England, in 1997. It consists of ironing a piece of clothing, in some really extreme places, or while parasailing or skydiving. And if you’re thinking this would make a good Monty Python sketch, you’re absolutely right, check this out
Underwater Hockey
Invented by the British Navy (no surprise there) in the 1950s. The goal is to score a goal, although not in the way one can think. To score, you have to use fins, a mask, and snorkel, a small stick and be able to hold your breath for a few minutes.
It’s a game in which the goal is at the bottom of a swimming pool, about three meters below the water and you have to score more than your opponents. The sport, which in some countries like the United Kingdom is known as octopush, is practiced in more than 60 countries and international tournaments are organized around the world.
Toe Wrestling – Seriously – This is a legit sport! – Seriously it is
Each battle is carried out with both competitors sitting on the ground, having to place their “skillful leg” inside a kind of square created with pieces of wood into which the “fight” will take place.
The rules are clear; players must crisscross the toes with the heel resting on the ground, the first who manages to dominate the opponent’s fingers and catch them for at least three seconds wins the round, each battle is the best of three rounds.
Shin Kicking
And for our last offering, shin-kicking. Yes, it is exactly as its name suggests. You have to keep kicking your opponent’s shin so hard that they fall on the ground. Each time they fall, you earn a point. There are three rounds and the one who wins more rounds wins. It’s simple, fun, and of course, it hurts like hell.
The competitors simply lock into each other’s collars and start kicking each other’s shins. And how weird or just plain mad is this; Originally the first man to break his opponent’s leg wins! Nowadays it’s just about hurting your opponent until he gives up. Now, this has got to be one of the weirdest sports in the world.
These are all sports that might have brought me the fame I always deserved. But I guess it’s too late to train in them because I’ve still got some brains. Us Brits are made of stern stuff and while most of these “sports” are kept within the confines of our emerald isle we though, we ought to let everybody know about them.
What’s your favorite of the weirdest sports in the world, have you found another one to rival the 5 on our list, let us know. In the meantime, I need to find some straw…
