Most Obscure Sports In The World

1. Bo taoshi is Japanese for pole pulldown , and as far as intensity is concerned this sport is hard to beat. Each team has 150 people that are divided into 75 attackers and 75 defenders. The goal? Knock down the other teams pole. By the way, the number for 911 in Japan is 119. .....

Extreme Ironing

2. According to the Extreme Ironing Bureau this is the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt. Originating in England it is now a world wide phenomenon that has taken place underwater, on mountainsides, and while parachuting. .....

Ga ga ball

3. According to some sources this popular summer camp game originated in Israel. Its played a lot like dodgeball, except it takes place in a wooden octagon and you have to hit players beneath the knees to get them out. .....

Cheese Rolling

4. Every year from the top of Cooper s Hill near Gloucester, England a round of Double Gloucester Cheese is rolled and a herd of competitors go rolling after it. Although they are theoretically supposed to catch it, the cheese can reach speeds of up to 70 mph, so generally speaking, whoever crosses the finish line first wins the cheese. .....

Snow Polo

5. This modified form of polo was started in Switzerland in 1985 but since then it has spread internationally. In the United States it is played exclusively in Aspen, Colorado (yes, its still a rich people sport). .....

Kaninhop Bunny Jumping

6. We owe it to the Swedes for coming up with a sport such as this. Its simple really trained bunnies hopping over obstacles. Its not really a new concept as Equestrian Show Jumping has been around for years, but come on, they re bunnies. .....

Underwater Hockey Octopush

7. Just as the name implies, its hockey except the puck is on the bottom of a pool. So, as you may have guessed this is certainly a sport where lung capacity plays a significant role. Also, you don t use a stick but rather a pusher which almost resembles a small blade. .....

Roller Derby

8. Dominated by women, this sport has witnessed a resurgence in the past 10 years. It is played by two teams, each of which are skating around a single track. One member of each team is called a jammer and it is their job to lap the players on the other team in order to score points. And yes, injuries are common. .....

Man vs Horse

9. Every June in the Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells competitors line up to prove they can beat a horse to a finish line that is 22 miles away. Why? Rumor has it that in 1980 the owner of a local pub, Gordon Green, overheard two patrons arguing over whether a man could beat a horse in a marathon. Well, there was only one way to find out. .....

Bog Snorkeling

10. Not only are you swimming 120 meters through a bog, you are not allowed to use conventional swimming strokes, relying only on the power of your flippers. And just like most of the contenders on this list, this obscure sport was started in the United Kingdom over a bet. .....

Cardboard Tube Dueling

11. According an official statement by the Cardboard Tube Fighting League (yes, its real) this sport was started based on three principles: people need more ways to play and take themselves less seriously, events can be fun without alcohol, and cardboard sword fighting is fun. The logic is impeccable. .....

Bellyflopping

12. Its probably one of the most painful single player sports out there, but hey, you can win a lot of money for those couple seconds of misery. But even if you don t, pride is big in this industry. May the best (biggest?) man win. .....

Moustache Growing

13. Compared to the other sports on this list it is admittedly tranquil. But don t tell any serious mustache grower that they aren t a legitimate sportsman. If we ever get around to it we ll explain why in our list 25 ways to end someone s life with your beard . .....

Chess Boxing

14. Born in the mind of a cartoonist near the turn of the 21st century, this sport has taken off. Consisting of 11 alternating rounds of chess and boxing, you can win with either a knockout, a checkmate, or a judges decision. .....

Buzkashi

15. The goal of this sport is simple grab the carcass of a headless goat at full gallop, get it clear of the other players, and pitch it across the goal line. Played all over South Central Asia, it is the national sport of Afghanistan. Respect. .....

Pesapallo Finnish Baseball

16. As the national sport of Finland it has also gained popularity throughout Northern Europe. Essentially a variation of baseball, the primary difference is the vertical pitching. This makes the ball a lot easier to hit and changes the dynamics of the game somewhat. .....

Ferret Legging

17. You think ferrets are cute? How about ferrets in your pants? How about two ferrets in your pants? The goal of this sport is to actually hold them down there for as long as possible. As brutal as it may seem the world record was in fact over 5 hours, sans underwear. .....

Toe Wrestling

18. Once again, we can thank our friends in the United Kingdom for toe wrestling champions like Paul Tomatominator Beech. Something of a thumb war except with your toes, it is considered common courtesy for each player to remove the other players shoes and socks prior to the match. .....

Mountain Unicycling

19. As anybody who has hiked a mountain trail knows, it can be hard with two feet let alone one wheel. Not only this, but unicycles are not equipped with a gear system like mountain bikes so they require a little bit of extra skill to maneuver. If you re up to the challenge, however, the sport is rapidly growing in the Mid West. .....

Kite Tubing

20. This is probably one of the more dangerous sports on our list with several deaths and numerous injuries on record over the past 5 years. Its actually a variant of towed tubing wherein the tube becomes airborne. The danger arises from the fact that tubes are not specifically designed to be airborne, which means they are hard to control, which means the landings can be a little rough. Evidently wings serve a purpose, who d of thunk it? .....

Bossaball

21. A mix of soccer, gymnastics, and volleyball this insanely fun game was invented in Spain and has since made its mark around the world. Played on a huge inflatable trampoline you can hit the ball with any part of your body as long as it clears the net by the 6th touch. .....

Camel Wrestling

22. If you ve gotten this far in the list you ve probably realized that humans love to wrestle. We do it with our thumbs, we do it with our toes, heck we even do it with our camels. And although camels are not really known for their wrestling prowess, try putting a female nearby. Its all about motivation. .....

Wife Carrying

23. See? She s good for something after all. Just kidding ladies, but seriously, according to the Wife Carrying Competition Rules Committee the wife to be carried may be your own, the neighbor s, or you may have found her further afield; she must, however, be over 17 years of age . So, you don t even need a wife to compete. Some other poor souls wife will do just fine. .....

Quidditch

24. Its kind of like tag mixed with dogdeball mixed with a toy helicopter and its sweeping the nation by storm. Well, its actually been confined to college campuses mostly, but still, its a valiant attempt on behalf of muggle kind to step beyond their limitations and do something more with their broomsticks than just sweep the floor. .....

Shin Kicking

25. All you need for this game is 4 shins and a high tolerance for pain. Popularized by immigrants coming to the United States from the UK (where else?) it has found a niche in pop culture and become a staple of legendary manliness. .....

Wood Chopping

26. Chopping wood may seem like a tireless chore. But at the now retired Great Outdoor Games, there s a lot more to the timber events than that. From log rolling to tree topping to the hot saw and more, the Great Outdoor Games turned lumberjacks into competitive athletes. Each of the timber events was either a race, as was the case with the team relay or speed climbing, or an endurance event, like logrolling. .....

Redneck Games

27. You sure won t find a chess board or anything resembling a board game at the annual Summer Redneck Games in East Dublin, Ga. Instead, you ll find the kinds of athletic events that could only come out of Dixie, including toilet seat tossing, seed spitting, and mud belly flops (pictured here). Competitors at the Summer Redneck Games may not get all the attention or the money or the endorsement deals with Nike. As a matter of fact, many of the .....

Street Luge

28. Street luge is a sport that combines the safety concerns of the luge with the gentleness of pavement. Participants lie on what is essentially an enlarged skateboard designed to hold the human frame. Gravity does the rest of the work. .....

Dog Dancing

29. Dog dancing may be more art than sport. But however you classify what could be one of the surest signs yet of the apocalypse, dog dancing, also known as canine freestyle, combines coaching, discipline and dance. Although it may seem like an amateur pastime, dog dancing is actually a competitive sport with contests held in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and other countries with pet owners who have too much time on their hands. .....

Seepak Takraw

30. From the looks of this photo, you might think sepak takraw, a sport native to Southeast Asia, is almost a kind of karate volleyball. And you wouldn t be far off. Played with a ball made of dried palm leaves, sepak takraw is popular in Asia and even started to make inroads in North America in the late 1980s and 1990s. Sepak takraw even has a lot in common with similar team sports more familiar to Western audiences. Like soccer, players pass around .....

Unicycle Polo

31. As if just riding a unicycle didn t look funny enough, add mallets and balls and you ve got a truly wacky spectacle. I m sure it s a fun game for the participants, but just imagining unicyclists crashing into each other makes me burst into laughter. .....

Caber Toss

32. This sport is unique to this list, as it is the only one in which the participants wear skirts, err I mean kilts. Caber toss is a traditional Scottish sport in which competitors throw large wooden poles called cabers. The object is not to throw the caber the furthest, but to have the top of it land near the thrower. This sport is thought to originate from the need to throw logs across gaps, in order to cross them. .....

Blind Soccer

33. Imagine how hard it would be to live life day to day without vision. Now imagine playing a game of soccer with the same impairment. While the visually impaired are usually unable to participate in athletic activities, blind soccer is a truly inspirational exception. All of the players are legally blind, except for the goal keeper, and the soccer ball has pebbles in it so the players can tell where it is. .....

Zorbing

34. Have you ever seen your hamster rolling in its ball and imagined what it would be like if you did the same? Then, zorbing is the perfect sport for you. Zorbing is the sport of rolling down a hill inside a giant inflatable ball or an orb, usually made of transparent plastic. It is generally done on a gentle slope, but can also be done on a level surface, giving more control to the rider. The zorb ball can hold up to three people, making it a great .....

Bed Racing

35. The people of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire have embraced the sport of Bed Racing, in which competitors race in a team of 6 with one teammate on the bed. Each team is responsible for providing its own bed and decorating it according to the theme of the year. The bed should be able to run on four wheels and also float on water since the final challenge of the 3km race involves crossing a river. .....

Oil wrestling

36. Oil wrestling is held around the world, though one of the oldest competitions is in Kirkpinar, Edirne Turkey, held in June each year. The wrestling is part of a festival, dating back to 1357 celebrating an Ottoman victory. The contest, known as pehlivan covered in olive oil trying to wrestle the other to the ground maybe not everyone s idea of fun. Oil wrestling festivals also take place in northern Greece in the Eastern Macedonia and West Thra .....

Poohsticks

37. Poohsticks is a sport first mentioned in The House at Pooh Corner, a Winnie the Pooh book by A. A. Milne. It is a simple sport which may be played on any bridge over running water. Each player drops a stick on the upstream side of a bridge and the one whose stick first appears on the downstream side is the winner. The annual World Poohsticks Championships have been held at Day s Lock on the River Thames in the UK, since 1984. .....

World Gurning Contest

38. A competition where the ugliest face wins. Gurning is apparently a word for pulling a face, and you probably are not surprised to know that there is a World Gurning Contest. Gurning competitions are originated in 1297 at the Egremont Crab Fair, in the UK. It makes sense then that as part of .....

Sports with no cloths

39. There is a lot of interest in people playing sport with no clothes on. Taking off your clothes to play some sports is not recommended, and watching it being played by some people may not be a good idea either. It is a social custom in most parts of the world for athletes to wear some clothing. Today, the main exception is in naturist organised events, and some other events, such as the World Naked Bike Ride, in which people take part without clot .....