49 Fun Facts About Unusual Sports

What unusual sport, first staged in Sonkajärvi, Finland, in 1992, has competitors race with a team-mate on their back?

Wife Carrying began in Sonkajärvi, Finland, in 1992; the 253.5-metre course has two dry obstacles and a water obstacle, and the winner traditionally receives the wife's weight in beer.

Which hybrid sport has competitors alternate rounds of blitz chess and boxing until one wins by checkmate or knockout?

Chess Boxing alternates rounds of blitz chess with rounds of boxing; Dutch performance artist Iepe Rubingh staged the first official bout in 2003 and founded the World Chess Boxing Organisation to govern the sport.

Which team sport, known as Octopush in the UK, is played on the bottom of a swimming pool?

Underwater Hockey has players push a puck across the pool floor with short sticks; it was invented in England in 1954 and is played in masks, snorkels and fins.

Which Southeast Asian sport has players use feet, knees, chest and head to send a rattan ball over a net?

Sepak Takraw, played with a woven rattan ball over a net using only feet, knees, chest and head, has been contested at the Asian Games since 1990; its name joins Malay 'sepak' (kick) and Thai 'takraw' (woven ball).

What Central Asian equestrian sport has horse-mounted players dragging a headless goat carcass to a scoring area?

Buzkashi, meaning "goat grabbing" in Persian, is a rugged and often violent game played on horseback primarily in Central Asian countries like Afghanistan, where riders compete for control of a carcass.

What sport involves pressing wrinkled clothes with an iron and board in unusual or dangerous outdoor spots?

Extreme Ironing, originating in Leicester, England, in 1997, combines the mundane task of ironing with the thrill of extreme outdoor activities, with participants pressing clothes in places like mountaintops or underwater.

What recreational activity involves rolling down a hill inside a large, transparent, inflatable sphere?

Zorbing originated in New Zealand and offers a unique experience of rolling down slopes inside a giant inflatable ball, often with water inside for an added slip-and-slide effect.

What sport, originally inspired by a fictional book series, was officially rebranded as Quadball in 2022?

The real-life sport, initially known as Quidditch and inspired by the Harry Potter series, was renamed Quadball in 2022 by its governing bodies, partly due to trademark issues and to distance itself from the original author.

In what sport do competitors race down Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire chasing a wheel of Double Gloucester?

The annual Cheese Rolling event at Cooper's Hill is famous for its steep slope and the dangerous but exhilarating pursuit of a large wheel of Double Gloucester cheese.

Which sport, played on an inflatable court with trampolines, combines volleyball, soccer and gymnastics?

Bossaball, invented in Spain in 2004, is a dynamic sport played on a giant inflatable court that incorporates trampolines, allowing players to perform acrobatic maneuvers to hit the ball over a net.

Which Dutch sport involves sprinting to a canal pole, climbing it as it tips, and landing on the far bank?

Fierljeppen is Frisian for 'far leaping'; it began as a practical way for farmers to cross the region's many waterways and is now judged on distance, with poles up to 13 metres long.

What is Argentina's national sport, played on horseback with a handled leather ball?

Pato, meaning 'duck' in Spanish, is Argentina's national sport, historically played with a live duck in a basket. It has evolved into a regulated equestrian game where riders try to throw a handled ball through vertical rings.

What sport combines basketball with trampolines on a spring-loaded court?

SlamBall is a unique sport played on a court with four trampolines in front of each net and surrounded by plexiglass walls, allowing for high-flying dunks and aggressive play.

Which motorsport has pilots in FPV goggles flying camera-equipped remote aircraft through 3D courses?

Drone Racing pilots fly small quadcopters through gates at highway speeds while watching a live camera feed in FPV goggles; the Drone Racing League, founded in 2015, runs a televised professional circuit.

What sport scores bounces or distance from throwing a flat rock across water?

Stone Skipping, called stone skimming in Britain, is scored on bounces or distance; the World Stone Skimming Championships are held each year in a flooded slate quarry on Easdale Island, Scotland.

In what contact sport do teams of skaters on an oval track score by having a 'jammer' lap opponents?

Roller Derby teams field five skaters each, and the jammer scores a point for every opposing blocker they lap.

Roughly how much of a head start does the cheese get on the runners at the Cooper's Hill race?

The cheese gets about one second's head start before the runners go; the 7–9 lb Double Gloucester reaches speeds that can injure spectators on the 1-in-2 slope, so a foam replica has been rolled since 2013.

In wife-carrying, what is the 'Estonian style' hold?

Passenger upside-down on the back, legs over the carrier's neck and shoulders; piggyback and fireman's carry are the alternatives, and there are generally no rules about gender or marital status.

Bog snorkelling world records are set at the Waen Rhydd bog in which Welsh town?

Llanwrtyd Wells, which bills itself as Britain's smallest town, has hosted the World Bog Snorkelling Championship at the Waen Rhydd peat bog since 1985; competitors cover two lengths of a 60-yard trench using flipper power only.

Which French comic-book artist invented the hybrid of chess and boxing?

Enki Bilal depicted chess boxing in his 1992 graphic novel Froid Équateur; Dutch artist Iepe Rubingh staged the first real bout in 2003, and the Wu-Tang Clan had name-checked the idea in a 1993 song.

The Kırkpınar oil-wrestling festival is held each summer near which Turkish city?

Edirne hosts the Kırkpınar oil-wrestling festival every summer; wrestlers doused in olive oil grapple in leather kispet trousers for the title of başpehlivan, and the tournament claims a history dating to 1346.

In kabaddi, why must an attacker repeatedly chant the word 'kabaddi' while in the opposing half?

The chant, called a cant, shows referees the raider is not inhaling.

Kabaddi is the national sport of which country?

Bangladesh adopted kabaddi, known locally as ha-du-du, as its national sport in 1972; India has no officially declared national sport, and kabaddi joined the Asian Games in 1990.

Alan Blake invented Octopush in Portsmouth in 1954 for what purpose?

Open-water diving lost its appeal in the cold months, so the Southsea Sub-Aqua Club moved to the pool floor.

The Royal Shrovetide Football match, with goals three miles apart, is played in which Derbyshire town?

Ashbourne has played Royal Shrovetide Football on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday for centuries; the Up'ards and Down'ards goal at mill sites three miles apart, and the royal prefix dates from 1928 when the Prince of Wales started play.

Ferret-legging, holding live ferrets inside one's trousers, was once popular among which workers?

Ferret-legging was a pub pastime of Yorkshire coal miners; Barnsley's Reg Mellor set the record of 5 hours 26 minutes in 1981, and one origin theory says poachers hid illicit ferrets in their trousers.

Oina, a bat-and-ball game codified for schools in 1899, is the national sport of which country?

Romania's national sport is oina, a bat-and-ball game first mentioned in 1364; Education Minister Spiru Haret introduced it to schools and organised the first competitions in 1899.

Shin-kicking is a star event of which English games, first held in 1612 and revived in 1951?

The Cotswold Olimpicks, founded by Robert Dover near Chipping Campden in 1612, ran until 1852 and were revived in 1951; shin-kicking remains their signature event, with contestants padding their trousers with straw.

In Scotland, the caber used in the caber toss is usually made from which tree?

The caber is traditionally a trimmed larch trunk, typically 16 to 20 feet long and 90 to 150 pounds; a perfect toss turns end over end and lands pointing straight away at '12 o'clock'.

In modern camel racing, what has widely replaced child jockeys following bans in the UAE and Qatar?

Remote-controlled robotic whips now ride the camels, which can sprint at up to 65 km/h and hold 40 km/h for an hour.

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest is held every Fourth of July at which location?

Coney Island, outside the original Nathan's Famous stand, hosts the contest each Fourth of July; the 1916 origin tale was a later publicity invention, and Joey Chestnut set the record of 76 hot dogs in 2021.

The first World Poohsticks Championships were held in 1984 at Day's Lock on which river?

Day's Lock on the Thames, near Little Wittenham in Oxfordshire, hosted the championships from 1984; A. A. Milne described the game in The House at Pooh Corner in 1928.

The World Championship Punkin Chunkin, a pumpkin-hurling contest, was long held in which US state?

Delaware's Sussex County hosted the World Championship Punkin Chunkin, where teams launch pumpkins with slingshots, trebuchets and pneumatic air cannons; the best shots travel well over 4,000 feet.

Rabbit show jumping, modelled on equestrian show jumping, began in the 1970s in which country?

Sweden pioneered kaninhoppning in the late 1970s, with the first national championship held in Stockholm in 1987; early rules were borrowed from horse jumping and later reworked to suit rabbits.

In pesäpallo, Finland's national bat-and-ball game, how is the ball pitched?

The pitcher throws the ball vertically, straight up, from a plate beside the batter, which makes hitting and directing the ball far easier than in baseball and shifts the contest to fielding.

In the Basque sport of jai alai, what is the wicker basket-like glove used to hurl the ball called?

The cesta accelerates the ball to high speeds against the walls; the name of the sport itself means 'merry festival' in Basque.

How many players does each team field in Japan's bo-taoshi?

Each team fields 150 players, split into 75 attackers and 75 defenders; the game, played at Japan's National Defense Academy, ends when the pole is lowered to 30 degrees.

Elephant polo originated in Meghauli in which country?

Nepal's Meghauli airstrip beside Chitwan National Park hosted the first elephant polo in 1982; two people ride each elephant, a mahout who steers and a player who swings a long cane mallet.

The first known mention of conkers, in Robert Southey's 1821 memoirs, has it played with what?

Southey described the game played with snail shells or hazelnuts; the first recorded game with horse chestnuts was on the Isle of Wight in 1848, and the World Conker Championships began at Ashton, Northamptonshire, in 1965.

Lelo burti, an Easter game fought over a heavy sand-filled ball, belongs to which country?

Georgia's village of Shukhuti plays lelo burti every Orthodox Easter; the two halves of the village fight to carry a 16-kilogram leather ball stuffed with sand and sawdust across the stream at their end.

Ultimate frisbee was developed in 1968 by Joel Silver and friends at a high school in which US state?

Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, saw the first games in 1968 after Joel Silver proposed the sport to the student council; ultimate remains self-officiated even at the top level under the 'spirit of the game'.

In the Swiss sport of Hornussen, how fast can the struck puck, or 'Nouss', fly?

The Nouss can fly at up to 300 km/h when whipped off its ramp by the striker's flexible rod; teams of 16 to 20 players take turns batting and then trying to knock it down with wooden boards.

What makes Colombia's traditional throwing sport tejo explosive?

Only football has a bigger following in Colombia; the pre-Columbian version used a golden disc called a zepquagosqua.

How many teams play simultaneously in a match of Kin-Ball, invented in Quebec in 1986?

The ball is 1.2 metres across and the three teams wear black, grey and blue; the international federation claims 3.8 million participants.

Which Czechoslovak siblings won the cycle-ball world championship 20 times between 1965 and 1988?

The sport was introduced in 1883 by American artistic cyclist Nicholas Edward Kaufmann; its first world championships were held in 1929.

Underwater rugby grew out of fitness training in diving clubs of which country in the early 1960s?

Germany's Ludwig von Bersuda, of the Cologne diving club DUC Köln, filled a ball with saltwater in 1961 so it would slowly sink; the first world championship followed in 1980.

In the Swedish lawn game kubb, what is the larger wooden block placed in the middle of the pitch called?

The king stands in the centre; players toss batons to topple the opponents' kubbs first and then knock over the king, and toppling it too early loses the game outright.

Korfball, played by mixed teams of four men and four women, originated in which country?

Amsterdam schoolteacher Nico Broekhuysen devised korfball in the Netherlands in 1902, adapting ringboll, a Swedish game he had seen on a gymnastics course in Nääs.

Which 1989 post-apocalyptic film's fictional game became a real sport with its own leagues?

The Salute of the Jugger, released in the US as The Blood of Heroes, was written and directed by David Webb Peoples; its jugger game, played with a dog skull and padded weapons, now has leagues in Germany and Australia.