The Weirdest and Wildest Sports
We’ve written lot’s about niche sports and because government funding does’t cover a lot of them, we’ve had have had 100’s of people and teams on PledgeSports fundraising for these minority sports online.
Over the past few years we’ve seen everyone from dodgeball, tchoukball, touch & teams to dog sledders, baton twirling, scooters, arm wresters, sport stackers and many more from the niche sports on PledgeSports. But let’s look and what else is out there, the wildest and weirdest sports that very few people probably have heard of!
Dog surfing
Dog surfing involves dogs that are trained to surf on surfboards, bodyboards, skimboards, windsurf boards or to bodysurf. The sport is dated back to the 1920 and there are even competitions in America now!
Quidditch
In April 2017 Oxford Dictionaries recognised “quidditch” as a word. Derived from the Harry Potter series, the sport start in 2005 and has grown rapidly now even has an International Quidditch association. Played in Europe, US and Asia, it’s a sport of two teams of seven players each mounted on broomsticks played on a hockey rink-sized pitch. It’s a contact sport akin to rugby, basketball and dodgeball where athletes play the game with brooms between their legs at all times.
Calcio Storico
‘Historic Football’ – is an ancient form of football and rugby from 16th century Italy, it was once widely played but interest in Calcio waned in the early 17th century and nowadays it’s played exclusively in Florence. The sport holds title title of being the most violent sport in the world!
It’s played in teams of 27, and no substitutions are allowed for injured or expelled players. Players use both feet and hands and tripping and tackling, headbutting, punching, elbowing, and choking are all allowed. So basically people play football while legally kicking the crap out off each other!
Wife-Carrying
If you thought the Finns were progressive and all about gender equality, think again. This is a country that invented the sport of “wife-carrying,”. The niche sport is an annual competition where husbands run an obstacle course while carrying their wives on their backs. The winner supposedly received his wife’s weight in beer. The most famous competition is held in Sonkjärvi, Finland, where the sport was invented. The sport has spread to other parts of the world, including the US and Australia. Sounds like a great way to spend some quality time!
Bog Snorkelling
As the name suggests you throw on a snorkel, a mast and a pair of flippers, jump into bog water and start swimming! Competitions involve swimming 2 consecutive lengths of peat water-filled trenches. Starting in Wales in 1985 there are now regular bog snorkelling events, Australia, Ireland, and Sweden.
Lawnmower racing
Invented in 1973, the race puts a fresh spin on a garden chore. Racing mowers must still be able to cut grass, and the Guinness World Record for the fastest mower was claimed in 2014 by the 109bhp Mean Mower from Honda, driven by car journalist Piers Ward.
Pea Shooting
Believe it or not, there has been a World Pea Shooting Championships is held on Witcham’s village green, Cambridgeshire held annually since 1971! And now the act of blowing dried green peas through a straw or tube — is been picking up steam in America. The first U. S. National Pea Shooting Championship was held in a mall in Roanoke, Va.
Octopush
Octopush is such a niche sport! Better known – and summed up – as Underwater Hockey, Octopush began in England in 1954 as a way of keeping a sub-aqua club occupied during the winter. It’s a team sport played in a pool with the aim of getting a hockey puck into an opponent’s goal using a tiny hockey stick called a pusher. It’s a six-on-six game requiring the unique skill of holding your breath to score. No wonder there’s so many substitutions.
We could have added many more to the list of weirdest and wildest sports played such as under water kissing, toe wrestling or cheese rolling but the above are our favourites!
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