Thursday, May 02, 2019

5 Obscure Sports You Need To Know ♥

 Photographer

Fed up off all those mainstream sports you’re not good enough to play? Always dreamed of being a professional athlete in your own right? Well, you may be in luck!

If you’ve tried your hand at football or rugby without success, it’d be a good idea to take a look below to discover some of the weird and wonderful sports that exist around the world. Here are five of the best:

Extreme Ironing
Whether you want to consider it attention-seeking or simply an extreme sport, extreme ironing is one of those sports where you just think, why? Participants of this sport call themselves ‘ironists’ and travel the world looking for the most bizarre and unorthodox destinations to complete their weekly ironing. Previous world champions have completed their ironing on perilous cliff-faces in Yosemite National Park, while others have found their niche perched on slippery rocks amid chaotic river rapids. In June 2018, a free diver named Roland Piccoli ironed a T-shirt at a depth of 42 metres/138 feet.

Quidditch 
Quidditch is a game that has gained popularity on the back of the extremely popular Harry Potter book and film series, gaining world recognition for its magical realism and intriguing characters. The game of Quidditch has managed to find its way into popular culture, with an annual Quidditch world cup gaining traction among Harry Potter enthusiasts. The latest installation of the Quidditch World Cup took place in Frankfurt, Germany in 2016, with participants and international teams from all around the world taking part. Once you’ve enjoyed a game of Quidditch, it’s well worth taking a look at the Quidditch memorabilia at Warner Brothers Studio Tours for a real taste of the Harry Potter universe.

Gurning 
The art of gurning is something of an English tradition, with gurning championships taking place annually throughout the country. In English parlance, ‘to gurn’ is to pull the most bizarre and extremely contorted face as possible. Winners of the competition are often aided by their lack of teeth or double jointed jaw bones, and perform their gurns with a weight around their neck to create extra pain and grimace. Peter Jackman became the leading name and stand-out star in the gurning world after winning the competition four times – you could say he is the Cristiano Ronaldo of the gurning world. He even had all his teeth removed to accentuate his gurn to its maximum possible propensity. Sound like a sport for you?

Kabaddi 
Perhaps the most legitimate of sports in this list, the ancient sport of Kabaddi is an extremely popular sport in India with a professional league developing in around 1920. Kabaddi is a contact sport that possesses similarities to tag rugby and water polo. Players separate into two teams, with each electing a ‘raider’ for their team. It’s the raiders' job to get the ball into the opposition score zone without being tackled. Although the rules are more convoluted than this, the game becomes a spectacle when you hear the chorus of ‘Kabaddi, Kabaddi’ chanted throughout the game. So far, the Kabaddi World Cup has yet to gain much attraction around the world, with India dominating the sport by winning all three competitions. Media coverage has led to a growing interest in Kabaddi, which means the 2019 World Cup in Maleka, Malaysia, could be the biggest yet.

Downhill Cheese Chasing 
Taking place in the quaint town of Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire, UK, the annual cheese chasing competition is an event that you may be familiar with from its coverage on the news. The premise of the sport is formulated around competitors chasing a huge wheel of cheese down a very steep hill. The winner of the competition is the competitor who makes it to the bottom of the hill first – and in one piece. The great thing about this ‘sport’ is that there’s no trophies involved – you’ll simply win the wheel of cheese you’ve been chasing. It’s said that the competition has pagan origins and dates back to 1826, making it one of the oldest-known sports in the world, even if you may pick up an injury or two along the way.

Which of these five obscure sports will you pick? Will you enjoy a casual game of Quidditch in your local park, or throw yourself down a steep incline behind an enormous wheel of cheese?

Whatever you choose, at least you know deep down in your heart there’s some chance that you might just become a professional!
Share:

1 comment

  1. I cannot believe these are actual sports hahah Extreme ironing!? As in, ironing clothes? Bizarre haha I guess there's something for everyone right!

    Renee @ Maritime Mama

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for reading my blog and taking the time to comment. I appreciate all your comments and try to reply whenever I can.

© Dolly Dowsie | All rights reserved.
Blog Layout Created by pipdig