5 Weirdest Sports Around The World

Some inventions are pretty great, such as the internet, the flushing toilet and the wheel. However, there are some other inventions that aren’t quite as useful, such as the sport where participants do chores up a mountain, or the one that asks its contestants to count livestock. Yet, although these sports aren’t as useful as the internet or the wheel, they are not entirely useless and their eccentricities help to make lots of peoples’ days a little brighter. Here we show you five of these weird sports.

Extreme ironing

Extreme ironing was invented in 1997 by Phil Shaw. The sport basically involves doing the most boring chore in the world – ironing – in a remote or dangerous location. Those who participate in extreme ironing are called ironists and spend their free time lugging their ironing boards and irons around the world, whilst their loving partner carries a camera (and hopefully a first aid kit) in an attempt to capture their daredevil ironing stunt.  Some of the best ironists have been snapped pressing their clothes up a mountain, in a waterfall, underwater, the motorway, hiking, rock-climbing (dry and in snow), on top of a cow or even strapped to the back of a New York City yellow cab.

Ferret legging

If you’ve ever seen or held a ferret you will understand why this is one of the world’s weirdest sports. If you have not, let us remind you that ferrets are strong and vicious when scared. They also have sharp teeth, razor-like claws and they stink. With these facts in mind, now imagine thrusting a pair of hungry ferrets down your trousers, which have been tied at the bottom, and now, with the ferrets crawling around your crotch, your belt has been tightened. This is ferret legging.

The aim of the game is to keep the ferrets in your trousers for the longest time possible. Currently, the ferret legging record is held by Frank Bartlett and Christine Farnsworth who managed to withstand the biting and scratching of the ferrets for an incredible five hours and thirty minutes, and the former world champion, Reg Mellor, wore white trousers to display his blood-stained glory to the crowds watching, we don’t think we’ll be trying this one in a hurry.

Joggling

Juggling in itself is quite a strange sport, yet combine juggling with jogging and you have yourself one of the world’s weirdest sports ever; joggling.  There are three types of joggling. Speed jogglers aim to cover a distance whilst running and juggling in the fastest time. Error-free jogglers aim to run and juggle for the longest time without making a mistake. Finally, there are the trick jogglers who aim to do as many juggling tricks as possible whilst running a mile (1.6km).

Although you might think that joggling is not a serious sport, some joggling fanatics have run in marathons and some have even run in ultra marathons. Apparently, the world record for its ultra marathon distance is eight hours and 23 minutes, whilst the world record for marathon distance is two hours, 50 minutes and nine seconds.

Sheep counting

Australia is a nation known for its sport. Yet, what about all of the uncoordinated sport haters in Australia? What do they get up to? Well, it seems like the sport for all those ungainly, clumsy Australians is sheep counting.

Although skill is needed to be a decent sheep counter, physical prowess is not. Basically, what happens is approximately 400 sheep are released from a pen and 10 contestants have to try to accurately count them as the sheep run past. This sheep counting championship has developed out of a profession, which many Australians do for a living in the sheep auction yards. As a necessary task it can drive the average individual fairly insane, but as a challenge it brings status to those with a keen eye.

Bossa ball

Surely bouncing around on a trampoline can’t be improved? Well, think again. Bossa ball is an incredible, fast-paced sport that was invented in Belgium. The sport combines volleyball, football, gymnastics and capoeira and is played on a trampoline, using a ball. The court is bright, big and inflatable so that players are safe when jumping to the fantastic heights they need to. Teams are made up of three to five people and the aim of the game is to ground the ball on the opponent’s side of the net. To do this, players can use any parts of their body to return the ball and they all go to extreme, gravity-defying lengths to do so.

Although a bizarre sport, Bossa ball is by no means obscure. There are clubs and events worldwide and big name brands have become involved in the sport, including Pepsi, Haribo and adidas. Although the novelty and high-energy aspects of the sport appeal to lots of people, the party atmosphere associated with it is one of its greatest attractions.