These are Europe’s most unusual sporting events
Recently, thousands of fearless participants gathered to take part in the annual Royal Shrovetide football game.
If you’ve never heard of this violent and absolutely bonkers medieval sport before, picture this: two teams, consisting of about 1,000 people each, gather in a small town in England to play a game of football. But, here’s the twist – there are no rules, no set field, the goals are three miles apart and the match takes place across two days.
It’s like a cross between football and a pub crawl, with a sprinkling of the Hunger Games thrown in for good measure.
In honour of this brutal event, we thought we’d take a look at some of the other unusual games and traditional sporting events found around Europe.
From naked sledding to cheese rolling, these sports are sure to leave you scratching your head in confusing and amusement.
Cheese Rolling (England)
Max McDougall, 22, from Brockworth, the winner of the first men’s downhill race, chases the cheese during the annual cheese rolling competition at Cooper’s Hill in Brockworth – Ben Birchall/AP
Chris Anderson, 30, holds up his prize after breaking the all-time record for the most cheeses won in the death-defying Cheese Rolling Race – Aaron Chown/AP
The name says it all – this game involves rolling a giant wheel of cheese down a steep hill, with participants running after it. Similar to the golden snitch in Harry Potter, the competitors aim to catch the cheese and the first person to cross the finishing line with the cheese wins.
The game is played annually in the quaint English town of Brockworth in Gloucestershire, and it’s definitely not for the faint of heart!
Some say it’s a celebration of the human spirit, others say it’s just a bunch of lunatics chasing dairy products down a hill. Whatever the case may be, one thing is for sure: the event is definitely not for the faint of heart!
Wife-Carrying World Championship (Finland)
Sweden’s Viktor Okerblom Jonsson carrying Amanda Stenberg compete in the Wife Carrying…
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