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Daft/unusual sports

Mycernius

The Hairy Wookie
4 Feb 2005
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I have heard on the radio that Scotland has won the Elephant Polo Cup this year, second time in a row (well done Scotland, you can win some things :giggle: ) Anyway it got me thinking, are there any unusual sports that you have heard of or seen. Just a few others I've heard of: Danish Dyke Jumping, Bog Snorkling, The World Conker campionships
 
I seem to remember seeing back in high school something about Scottish telephone pole throwing, or something like that. I guess whoever throws it the furthest, wins.
 
Hmm gumboot throwing is a bit odd. I dont know that this is a daft sport, but definately different... and thats chainsaw sculpting. Contestants are given an idea of what to sculpt and have a certain amount of time to make it with a log and their chainsaw.
 
yeah we have some odd sports, in the norther provence of the netherlands, you have Friesland.. a small provence, that have their own language, and also their own sports... one of them called Kaatsen *frisian handball *

Frisian handball (Dutch: kaatsen, Frisian: Keatsen) is a traditional Dutch/Frisian sport, related to American handball and fives, that is most commonly practiced by people from the northern province of Fryslân/Friesland. It is believed to be one of the oldest ballgames. The score is similar to tennis. The first team scoring six games, wins the match.

The major Frisian handball tournament, called the P.C. (short for Permanent Comity), is the oldest regulated sports tournament in the world. The P.C. is yearly held in de township Franeker since 1854.
Frisian handball is played on a square lawn of 61m by 32m by two teams of 3 players. In the center of one short side of the field is a receiving zone of 5m by 19m defended by 2 players, the other team member remaining field player. One of the opponents is serving the hard leather ball with his bare hand from a serving box at about 30 meters from the receiving zone. If he does not succeed to reach the receiving zone, the receiving team gets a direct score. The receiving team, of which the players are allowed to wear a single hardened leather glove, returns the ball over the short line behind the serving box (called the upper line, in Frisian boppe) they also get a direct score. Of course the serving team is allowed to prevent this happening by hitting or
holding the ball before the upper line. The place where the ball is remaining after such a rally is marked with a small woodblock called a kaats, which is best defined as an undecided score. When two such undecided points occur (or one, if one of the teams is on game point) the teams change places. In the next rally the team that then has the receiving position, tries to hit the ball passed the first kaats and, if any, in the next rally passed the second kaats, so deciding the undecided points. Then they start all over again.

In parts of Belgium a similar game is played, there called Jeu de Pelote. This game is played by teams of 5 players on a trapezium shaped field, mostly located on marketplaces.


also they have fierljeppen,

Fierljeppen is a traditional Frysian/Dutch sport and one of the most complex athletic sports known to date.

A jump consists of an intense sprint to the pole (polsstok), jumping and grabbing it, then climbing to the top while trying to control the pole's forward and lateral movements over a body of water and finishing with a graceful landing on a sand bed opposite to the starting point. Because of all the diverse skills required in fierljeppen, fierljeppers are considered to be very complete athletes with superbly developed strength and coordination.

Fierljeppen is most commonly practised by people from the northern province of Friesland. The sport is believed to have originated from farmers who used poles to quickly jump over small water drainage channels to access different plots of land.

i find them pretty funny, but i havnt done it yet.. i want to do the fierljeppen, maybe we could do it with the Jref group 🙂
 
lol those are funny! :D The idea of chainsaw sculpting sounds cool, though, if somewhat dangerous. :unsure: Hehe - my mother has a chainsaw (yes really! don't ask! very useful it can be!), maybe she should have a go...

Well, there's always Extreme Ironing, I'm surprised no-one mentioned it already, and it was invented in none other than my exotic home city, Leicester! 👍 (We are famous for some things.... 😆

There's something that takes place in a village in my region, it's quite well-known in England in fact, as the "Hallaton bottle kicking". It's basically (from what I gather from friends who were eye-witnesses) a free-for-all where... well... what the title says I guess 😊 kicking a bottle, or at least getting it from point A to point B in whatever ruthless way you want. People have suffered quite serious injuries from it - it's a bit like rugby without the rules.

I actually had an idea recently for a sport. You know (or maybe not?) in the UK (I don't know about elsewhere) there are occasional round white military installations that look exactly like giant golf balls. Well, why not? You can guess what's coming - why not use helicopters swinging things like giant golf clubs, and play a game something like "helicopter polo" with these ball-things? :giggle:
 
I have always been amused by the Australian(?) sport(?) of "chucking the dwarf".

The mind boggles!

ニ淡ニ停?。ニ停?
 
Sensuikan San said:
I have always been amused by the Australian(?) sport(?) of "chucking the dwarf".

The mind boggles!

ニ淡ニ停?。ニ停?彈/QUOTE]

Huh, I though dwarf tossing was an American thing...

Anyway, Mikawa: The event you're thinking of is the Caber Toss, part of the Scottish Highland games.

It's really more like throwing a tree than a telephone pole--unless they have bigger telephone poles where you're from.
 
How about Curling? I watched that on ESPN once and it nearly short circuited my brain. One guy pushes a big-*** hockey puck thingy down a length of ice while another guy brushes the ice in front of the hockey puck thingy with a broom or something so it'll go faster----I guess. I was stymied all to hell! Can anyone explain the fascination with that "sport"?
:?
 
Yes Curlig is so waste of of time. I can't believe its part of the olympic games.


Another sick game would be just regular Polo.. What were the British smoking when they made up this "Rich Peoples" game... You ride a horse and play Golf like soccer with bigger balls and bigger bats.
and to go back to the first post... Elephants in polo?!?
 
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