Sports have always been an influential event that helps us grow in person. It creates social bonding and team spirit, it has a huge fan base and supporters throughout the world, and it’s a great source of recreation. But there are a few games that are a bit fishy and off the edge, and they can be bizarre and uncommon at the same time. The world is a vast place, and we can’t even imagine what we might see in every corner.
Likewise, we have brought you a list of quirky and exceptional games played around the world. The list might make you wonder if you have played any real match yet!
Quidditch
Quidditch is no more a fictional sport. It is a game where two teams each consisting of seven players mounted on broomsticks face each other on a hockey ring-sized pitch. The game first began in US colleges and has since spread across the states. The International Quidditch Association governs the rules of the sport. If you haven’t guessed it already, then the game invented by author J.K Rowling and featured in the Harry Potter series is the inspiration. The game is also sometimes referred to as muggle quidditch to distinguish it from the fictional game, which involves magical elements such as flying broomsticks and enchanted balls. In case if you aren’t aware, in the Harry Potter universe, a “muggle” is a person without the power to use magic. This game is straight out of the magical world.
Tuna Tossing
This fishy sport began in South Australia in the small fishing community of Port Lincoln. It was inspired by the local fishermen who used to toss fish onto their trucks with force, and this eventually became a way to spice up a local festival. The person who manages to throw a 20-pound fish the furthest becomes the winner. Nowadays the competition has become somewhat cleaner: participants use rubber fish instead. The tuna toss is part of an annual festival called Tunarama celebrated in January. This Australian game connects the local fishermen community.
Toe Wrestling
This sport is similar to arm wrestling with players attempting to pin down their opponent’s toes for three seconds. Players play with their bare feet alternating between their left and right feet and play the best of three rounds. There are separate divisions for men and women. The World Toe Wrestling Championship has been on since the 1970s and enjoys growing participation. It’s a great game, provided there are no smelly feet!
Chess Boxing
This unlikely combination of sports involves brains and brawn. Competitors play 11 alternating rounds of chess and boxing for three minutes each. This little-known sport has fans in Germany, India, Russia, and the UK. The competitors fight in alternating rounds of chess and boxing. Chessboxing was invented by French comic book artist Enki Bilal and adapted by Dutch performance artist Lepe Rubingh as an art performance and has subsequently grown into a competitive sport. So pull up your gloves and brush up those chess skills of yours because you would need both to be the champion here.
Wife Carrying
There goes a saying that one who can carry his wife can carry the stress of the world, well, that was just a joke until someone created a sport out of it. Wife carrying is a contest in which male competitors race while carrying a female teammate. The objective is for the male to carry the female through a special obstacle track in the shortest duration. The sport first originated in Sonkajärvi, Finland. But now it’s played globally, and it’s celebrated as a medium to create a good bond between husband and wife. Want to take your relationship to another level? Then carry your wife and run. Go!
Underwater Football
Underwater football is basically American football that’s usually played in a swimming pool. Players have to wear snorkelling equipment, and their objective is to get the weighted football to the gutter on the other side of the pool. Underwater football is a two-team underwater sport that shares common elements with underwater hockey and underwater rugby. This game has a separate fan base.
Cheese Rolling
A yearly event that takes place in Gloucester, England-the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling & Wake. This event involves participants rolling a 9-pound cheese wheel down a very steep hill, and chasing after it. The first person to reach the bottom (in one piece) gets to take the cheese wheel home! Yes, that’s right! You can take the cheese for someone who’s a cheese lover; it’s a win-win situation.
Bubble Soccer
Bubble soccer or bubble football is the recreation/sport of playing football while being half-encased inside an inflated torus bubble, similar to zorb, which covers the player’s upper body and head. This quirky game involves two teams consisting of five players each and is played in large indoor spaces or outdoor fields. The most exciting part involves the players strapped in huge inflatable bubbles, which covers their head and upper body and the rules are the same as that of regular soccer. This sport is not only incredibly fun to play, but it’s also absolutely hilarious to watch!
Octopush
Underwater hockey is also known as Octopush. This subaquatic sport began in 1954 to help members of a British diving club stay active in the winter. This game is now a globally played limited-contact sport, in which two teams compete with each other in the pool. The defending team tries to defend their post. Meanwhile, the opposing team tries to score a goal by propelling to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom, swimming with a hockey stick. The team with the maximum number of goals wins the match. This sport sounds like a perfect swimming pool game, doesn’t it?
Shin Kicking
Did you know kicking enemies in their shin dates back to the 17th century, but here you are! Little did you know what you did in school had a long history. In this reasonably self-explanatory activity, two competitors attack each other’s shins until one cries, “Sufficient!” Sounds rough, right? The sport had come a long way toward reducing injury since its inception when players used to compete with steel-toed boots. Today, only soft-toed shoes are allowed, and competitors are permitted to stuff straw into their pant legs to soften the blows. Shin kicking is among the most popular events at the annual Cotswold Olimpick Games, now in their 408th year.
So, if you ever get bored with the existing conventional sports, now you very well know what to look out for on the internet. And if you are planning to try any of these then please make sure you take care of all the safety tips first. These sports look funny but can be dangerous too. So enjoy cautiously.
