Obscure Sports Quarterly
There was, you may remember, a cult comedy a few years ago, called 'Dodgeball'. It starred the usual pairing of Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughan and co, and was set around a (presumably fictional) World Dodgeball Championship, which someone had found out about in the July issue of 'OSQ', the (presumably fictional) 'Obscure Sports Quarterly'.
The idea of the 'Obscure Sports Quarterly' of course made my spod senses tingle all over, as I thought about the oddest sports I had heard of (and those I had yet to find out about). I give you, in no particular order (and the first one illustrated above):
The Dutch Headwind Cycling Championship (I shit you not, and nor does Wikipedia)
Dutch Headwind Cycling Championship
This can only take place in certain weather conditions when the wind is over 50kmph, and therefore is only organised at short notice when a storm has been forecast. It of course takes place on a completely flat and shelterless road on top of one of the dikes. Single-speed bikes are provided by the organisers, which is probably a blessing.
Knurr and Spell
I have to give this one a special mention as it is practically extinct as a sport but does just about survive in Barnsley, Yorkshire. It involves hitting a small hard pottery ball with a long stick that has a wooden mallet head, and the aim is to whack it as far as you can in several turns. The record for a single hit is over 300 yards and has stood since the 19th century. The game is well over 500 years old and there is an entertaining BBC archive film of a championship from about 1970, here, with great accents of course:
Road Bowling:
This sport is still quite popular in rural Ireland (and, I think, in Holland, clearly an obscure sports hotbed). It involves bowling a lethal looking metal ball, like a small cannonball (which weighs a hefty 28 ounces!) and the ball is hurled along a straight stretch of road. The competition, like golf, is won by reaching a particular point in the fewest throws or bowls. There is a possibility that the sport was brought to Ireland by Dutch troops in the 17th century. Here is an informative video of it:
Fox-tossing:
Yeah, this one is now happily extinct, but it was apparently a big favourite in several courts of Europe through the 17th and 18th centuries. The premise seems bizarre: pairs of competitors would have a long net about 20 feet long, laid flat on the ground, and they held cords at each end of it. Foxes were released from cages and as they stepped over the net you pulled hard on the cords to send the animal into the air, often with fatal results. It was also apparently popular with mixed pairs at either end of the net. It certainly counts as a blood sport, so maybe that makes it not a sport at all. But what a bizzare way of getting your kicks. And for those who think this is an elaborate April Fool's day post, here are the reciepts from Wikipedia:
Now I am sure that many of you are aware of more obscure and bizarre sports, especially if you watch the specialised channels on US cable. I have seen professional Cornhole and Axe-throwing contests to name but a couple, and I am sure that there is some prospect, with a bit of effort, to make Obscure Sports Quarterly a real magazine rather than a wild fiction.
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