Top 10 Weird Sports

Script written by Joseph Jo

Top 10 Unusual Sports in the World

As long as it’s physical and has a set of rules, you got yourself a sport… at least, you do according to the people who play these! Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 unusual sports in the world.

For this list, we’re looking at sports that may look or sound baffling, but actually require skills and effort like mainstream or more well-known sports. And who knows; you might find a new sport to get into here!

#10: One Foot High Kick

Sometimes known as the Inuit one foot high kick, this game is one of the events of the World Eskimo-Indian Games in Fairbanks, Alaska. Though its name makes it sound easy, this sport in fact requires great finesse and flexibility. The athlete can start either from a standing position or from a running start, after which the competitor will jump with both feet and kick a suspended ball or a piece of seal. But there’s the catch: after jumping, you must land perfectly with the foot you kicked with or you will be disqualified.

#9: Quidditch

Times have changed since J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series was adapted into a blockbuster franchise. Not only do we have booger-flavored jelly beans and Emma Watson, but also we can now be a genuine quidditch player. Ever since this formerly fictional game was first played in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont, the popularity of the sport has “broom-rocketed” within universities all around the world! January 2013 was the first time Quidditch was televised as a sporting event and its reputation has been growing ever since. One particularly cool thing about this sport is that it lets you show off your broomstick without having to carry a dustpan!

#8: Shovel Racing

Set aside the broom, because now it’s the shovel's time to shine! Does it ever sound like some sports were created by employees with too much time on their hands? Well, in fact, some of them were! During the 1970s, ski resort workers in New Mexico would use their shovels to race each other down the slopes at the end of the night. As a sport, shovel racing sees competitors sitting on their shovels with feet pointed forward, and sliding down hills like there’s no tomorrow - sometimes reaching a speed of 70mph! Due to safety reasons, the sport has been dropped from the X Games, but shovel racing remains an annual winter event in New Mexico.

#7: Sepak Takraw [aka Kick Volleyball]

Raise your leg if you think volleyball is overrated! This sport, and its name, have Malaysian and Thai origins, with sepak meaning “kick” in Malay and takraw meaning “woven ball” in Thai. First played during the 15th century, sepak takraw sees players using their feet, heads, knees and chests to touch the ball - and it’s actually quite common to see an amazing move such as the glorious bicycle kick during play. If you think you can kick, but are concerned about the landing, then try out Spain’s Bossaball instead. It is another sport similar to volleyball, but instead it has an inflatable court with trampolines on each side of the net and incorporates features of other sports as well.

#6: Extreme Ironing

Looks like someone got so bored ironing that they had to take it to the extreme! These ironists will travel to the most bizarre locations, such as the mountains, forests, and even underwater to prove that there are no excuses for those wrinkles! The rules are pretty simple, go iron your clothes in remote locations or places no one would have thought of and make it look extreme. One thing to note: there’s some argument about whether it’s actually a sport or not. Regardless, it’s interesting to think that while so far many ironists have attempted crazy stunts, as far as we know no one has attempted ironing while playing Quidditch... so please let us know if you attempt this or hear about anyone who does!

#5: Buzkashi [aka Kokpar]

Persian for “goat dragging”, this sport consists of up to 500 horseback riders attempting to drag the carcass of a goat or a calf across the goal line. You can imagine how brutal it can get when the players are fighting for the carcass! Depending on the variation of the game, which is mostly played in several Central Asian countries, you’re free to do almost anything as long as players don’t intentionally strike or whip each other. The Afghan Olympic Federation introduced rules to make the game a bit more tame, by toning down the violence and formalizing the number of players... but it still involves a dead animal on the field.

#4: Wife Carrying

Is your marriage on the rocks? Why not sign up for the wife carrying contest! Originating in Finland, this sport is now practiced in other parts of the world and even has a category in the Guinness Book of World Records. According to the International Wife Carrying Competition Rules Committee, there is only one category and the winner is the male and female team that’s able to finish the course in the shortest time. Sounds fairly simple, except when you consider that the official track length is 831.7ft - with both dry and water-based obstacles! As for the prize? Well in Finland, that depends on your wife's weight in beer, naturally!

#3: Cheese Rolling

The annual cheese rolling event at Cooper’s Hill was traditionally done by the villagers that lived near Gloucester in England, but it has now become a world famous event. How does it work? A 9 pound round of Double Gloucester cheese is released at the top of Cooper’s Hill and the competitors follow after it in an attempt to catch said cheese. However, the sport has somehow churned... er, turned, more into a race. Seeing how the cheese can reach a speed of 70mph, it seems highly unlikely for anyone to even get near the damn cheese, so instead, participants try to be the first to reach the finish line at the bottom of the hill. Just when we thought we could play with our food!

#2: Chess Boxing

The more you think about this sport, the more you may realize there’s something artistic about its very nature. That’s because Iepe Rubingh, a performance artist who is now the president of the World Chess Boxing Organization, created it. Typically you either have brains or brawn, but to play this sport, you require both. A fight consists of 6 rounds of chess and 5 rounds of boxing – which alternate. Each round follows the regular rules of each game, meaning you can win each round by either critical thinking or throwing critical hits. If the game is a stalemate, the player with the most boxing points will take the title.


Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

- Bed Racing

- Mud Olympics

- Hurling

#1: Oil Wrestling [aka Grease Wrestling]

For our number one entry, we visit Turkey. This national sport can be traced back all the way to the ancient Babylonian times, with the annual Turkish oil-wrestling tournament making it one of the oldest sporting competitions still being played in the 21st century. In Turkey, approximately a thousand half-naked-men will compete for the three-day elimination tournament and wrestle each other while heavily drenched in olive oils. All athletes are required to wear leather breeches called a kisbet and during matches, they they are encouraged to pin each other down by slipping their arms through their opponents’ kisbets to get a firm grip. But don't worry lads, the coin-purse is a total no-go zone.

Do you agree with our list? What do you think is the unusual sport? For more educational top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe WatchMojo.com.