5 Popular Sports You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

My main job is teaching English to computer programmers at a very well-known company in Asia. Well, when I say teaching, I lie slightly as this is not your everyday English teaching job. I’m employed to develop the employee’s understanding of western culture.

It can range from de-bunking the stereotypes they have formed about Westerners over time, to simple likes and dislikes in the Western world. The company is from North America and will occasionally fly employees to the US to take a look around and experience the culture first-hand. I just prep.

Sometimes the reactions I get from certain lessons are utterly fascinating. To me, eating roast lamb is normal, so much so, I included it in a list of foods that Brits commonly eat. To them, this was thoroughly barbaric with jaws opening and crashing on the floor. Hushed, concerned chatter filled the room.

When it was my turn to receive my first ‘culture shock’ episode, it wasn’t food or language-related. It was sport related. Yep, sports. These guys partake in some crazy-looking sports.

I remember standing in the local park in complete awe, watching a group of adults play a game that kind of resembled badminton, but without the rackets or nets. Just the shuttlecock and a lot of "keepie-uppies".

The roast lamb was so normal to me, but the badminton-but-not-badminton shuttlecock game had me intrigued. Maybe there are other sports around the world I’ve never heard of. Ones that are super popular in some countries and barely even heard of in others.

I decided to research games, new and old from all corners of the globe and present them to you.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did researching it.

Name: Chess boxing

Origin: France

Active today: Yes

Created by a French artist for a comic book sketch in 1993, Chess Boxing started life out as just a joke. Little did Enki Bilal know that 10 years later, he would be watching the first-ever competitive match in Berlin [1].

The game is simple. 11 alternative rounds, 4 minutes of chess followed by 3 minutes of boxing. The match can be won by knockout, checkmate, exceeding the time limit, or the judge’s decision.

Sometimes TV series cross-overs and movie cross-overs excite the fans. Take Spiderman: No Way Home, for example, an average movie, but let’s talk about that spiderman actor cross-over. Magnifique.

In Chess-Boxing we have the unlikely cross-over of two sports that are the polar opposite of each other. No, it’s not going to get the fans going as much as when The Simpsons appeared on Family Guy, or when all the Marvel characters came together to defeat Thanos but it is still cross over nevertheless. The people love them!

Name: Buzkashi (Goat Dragging)

Origin: Afghanistan

Active Today: Yes

Wow, wow. Where to begin with this one…

Buzkashi is the name of a gruesome sport played primarily in Afghanistan. The aim is to take control of a decapitated goat carcass, whilst riding a horse. Participants will compete to take control of the body for as long as they can.

In the traditional game, violence was permitted against other participants in attempts to retrieve the goat carcass. Nowadays, most games are sponsored by the government and have rules that do not allow violence or weapons against each other, although, violence against the horse is permitted. [2]

In modern times, there are 10–12 players, goal-posts, and a defined field and is considered the national sport of Afghanistan. Lovely.

Name: Wife Carrying

Origin: Finland

Active Today: Yearly Competitions

The title is pretty much self-explanatory here… But how bizarre.

Wife Carrying is technically a sport but more of an annual competition-based activity. Here, men will carry their wives through an obstacle course consisting of two dry areas and one wet area, usually a small swimming pool. Whoever makes it to the finish line first is crowned the winner for that year.

Athletes have to abide by specific rules, some of which are eyebrow-raising. The first is regarding weight. If the wife is under 49KG, she must wear a backpack containing weights that, combined with her weight, equate to 49KG. So no getting away with it that easily if your wife is light! [3]

The next interesting rule is that the female participant doesn’t have to be the man’s wife; it can be any female over the age of 17.

So yeah, it could be ‘The-Local-Butcher’s-Daughter- Carrying competition in theory…

Wife Carrying has recently branched out to countries such as USA, UK, and Australia, so all couples should keep an eye out if this tickles your fancy!

Name: Shinty

Origin: Ireland/Scotland

Active Today: Yes

Played in the Gaelic-speaking West Highlands, Shinty is a game where players will attempt to score more goals than the other team by hitting the ball into the other team’s goal. Players will use a stick, known as a Caman, to rifle a small ball into the net of the opposing team, very similar to Hurling. [4]

Although not nationally popular, the game is extremely important to locals. Competitions will take place on New Year’s Day with a lot of interest, pride and passion involved.

The rules state that a player may not hit another with the bat, but, seems as though ‘accidentally’ hitting is common. As you can see in the picture above, this isn’t a weapon used in a pillow fight. Ouch.

Name: Quidditch

Origin: United States of America

Active today: Yes

Yes, you heard right Potter fans, Quidditch is a real-life sport! Made famous in Vermont in 2005, Quidditch has taken many countries by storm since 2005. If you’re not familiar with the concept of Quidditch it is played on floating broomsticks with various balls and hoops. Teams must throw balls through the other team’s hoops with different values of points for different balls. Sadly, technology hasn’t allowed the commercial use of floating broomsticks so in the real game these have been replaced by imagination and a desire to stick a broomstick in between your legs.

Rules are tantamount to Quidditch you would find in the books and movies but the golden snitch has been substituted with a person dressed in yellow. These ‘Snitches’ aren’t allowed to participate in the game directly, rather they are allowed to run anywhere around the pitch and even out of bounds. Once a player has ‘caught’ the snitch, the corresponding team is awarded 50 points which effectively ends the game.

Quidditch has been an immensely popular game with many countries involved in leagues and competitions throughout the year. In 2012, the first Quidditch World Cup was born in London with the USA leaving with the bragging rights [5]. Since then, the tournament has taken place once every 2 years in different countries around the world. A plethora of nations take place including, but not limited to, Malaysia, Vietnam, Catalonia, Poland, and Austria. The USA has taken first place at 3 of the 4 events meaning they are now ranked the world’s best at Quidditch.

I wonder if the introduction of the newest broom technology has helped Americans gain the upper hand. Have you heard of them? They’re flying off the shelves.

Sorry, not sorry.

Citations

Forrest, B. (n.d.). ESPN.com — E-Ticket: By Hook Or By Rook. [online] www.espn.com. Available at: http://www.espn.com/espn/eticket/story?page=chessboxing&redirected=true [Accessed 2 Nov. 2022].

Levinson, D. and Christensen, K. (1999). Encyclopedia of world sport : from ancient times to the present. New York: Oxford University Press.

www.wife-carrying.org. (n.d.). Wife Carrying & The North American Wife Carrying Championship. [online] Available at: https://www.wife-carrying.org/ [Accessed 3 Nov. 2022].

Shinty.com (n.d.). History. [online] Shinty.com. Available at: https://shinty.com/history/ [Accessed 5 Nov. 2022].

Ling, T. (2018). US beat Belgium to win the World Cup — of quidditch. [online] Radio Times. Available at: https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/us-beat-belgium-to-win-the-world-cup-of-quidditch/ [Accessed 5 Nov. 2022].