The Weirdest Sports You’ve Never Heard Of

Can you see some strange things with people competing for a prize? You sure can if you attend one of the weirdest sports in the world.

If there’s something you can measure, people will want to compete to see who’s the best at it. Sports are a great way for individuals and teams to compete against each other for prizes and bragging rights. Not everyone can play mainstream sports well, and boredom coupled with creativity has led us to some of the weirdest sports that you’ve never heard of. Here are a few of them.

Wife Carrying

How hard is it to get your wife off your back? Is she always nagging you to do something? Strangely, there’s a whole sport around carrying your wife through an obstacle course. This sport originated in Sonkajarvi, Finland, and it has grown into a highly competitive sport. This sport made its way to North America, and there is a North American Wife Carrying Championship, with winners receiving prizes including the wife’s weight in beer, five times her weight in cash, and entry into the World Championship, which is held in Finland.

Regball

Combining several sports together is something we’ve seen and watched evolve. Regball combines basketball, wrestling, and rugby into a single sport. This game has seven players on each team, but a foul means one team plays with six for a while, like when hockey penalties occur. There’s a ball that must be put through a hoop, but players can wrestle for the ball and do almost anything. It seems odd that there might be fouls in a sport that has very few rules. Takedowns are also part of this game, making it brutal and one of the weirdest sports you’ve never heard of.

Extreme Ironing

Where can you iron your clothes? Most people do this in their homes, preferably in the laundry room or bedroom, where they can be comfortable. Extreme ironing is a sport that takes this chore on the road. Competitors find the strangest and most exciting places to iron their clothes, including while actively water skiing, skydiving, or on the top of a roof. The sport is actually regulated by the Extreme Ironing Bureau, which sounds made up but isn’t.

Cheese Rolling

Can you beat a wheel of cheese to the bottom of a hill? One of the weirdest sports in the world is the annual Cheese-Rolling event held at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire, U.K. In this event, a large cheese wheel is rolled down a steep hill, and competitors race after it. The first person to the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. This hill is steep enough that several injuries have occurred over the years. Would you want to win this cheese after it’s rolled down the hill?

Underwater Hockey

This sport takes place in a pool, uses a weighted puck that stays at the bottom of the pool and is a team sport with six players on each team. Players don’t wear scuba gear, which means they have to return to the surface for air periodically, making it an interesting sport. This team sport can be fun and extremely competitive, especially since players must leave the puck behind to get their next breath of air.

Worm Charming

If you love slow-paced sports, Worm Charming might be for you. Although it’s not much of a spectator event, Worm Charming is easily one of the weirdest sports you’ll ever find. This is a team sport with three people working to charm worms out of the ground. There’s a charmer, a catcher, and a counter playing the game. The charmer uses a hard object to create vibrations to lure the worms out of hiding in the ground. The team that catches the most worms during the event wins the game.

Shin Kicking

Shin Kicking is as brutal and gruesome as it sounds. This sport originated in the early 17th century in England as a combat sport with two contestants kicking each other in the shin until one hits the ground. The Shin-Kicking World Championship is part of the Cotswold Olimpick Games, which is a collection of strange games held on Dover’s Hill in Chipper Campden each year. If you want to see some toughness put to its test, attend some Shin Kicking events and watch two people battled it out until one finally hits the ground.

These are only seven of the weirdest sports you’ve never heard of. There are many more, and they could grab your attention and give you a great way to enjoy the fun.