As well as being the home to sports like football, the United Kingdom is also home to a myriad of low-scale, but extremely intriguing sports, involving kicking shins, snorkelling in bogs, and chasing cheese rolling down a hill.
When asked about the strangest sports known to them, sports fan Tina Naregal said 'I thought the Indian sport Kabaddi was strange enough, with the aim of the game being for one team to raid another. When I heard that people chuck wellies up in the air as a sport, right here in England, I was shocked.'
Known as 'Welly-Wanging' or even the 'welly toss,' this sport originated, and is held annually in the Upperthong Village as a rigid, competitive event, here involving throwing a 'Size 9, green Wellington Boot,' as far as possible. Extremely popular in 1970s West England, the sport spread over the continents, to Australia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, and even Russia. After migrating, the rules of Welly-Wangling tweaked according to their surroundings, with some variants of the sport now involving the boot being filled with water, and even making the 'boot-thrower' stand in an empty bin.
As if England needed even more uniqueness, another sport invented here requires the players to complete two lengths of a bog, except without swimming. Equipped with a wetsuit, flippers and a diving mask, the athletes should scream and flail about as they please, but when a traditional swimming stroke is detected, they are immediately recognised as breaking the rules of the Welsh sport 'Bog Snorkelling.'
Potentially beating the sporadic and haphazard nature of Bog Snorkelling, The Cooper's Cheese Rolling and Wake is an annual event, held near Gloucester. The event involves rolling a 5kg round of Double Gloucester Cheese down a hill, along with a group of people. With this cheese being the winner's reward, the players aim to reach the bottom of the hill first, alongside the cheese. Despite sounding as if skill is not required, the cheese usually reaches speeds of 60 to 70 miles per hour, making the competition not only extremely entertaining, but also very competitive. The Cheese Roll has had winners from New Zealand, Canada and even Nepal, making it just as international as Welly-Wanging.
Not only home to Welly-Wanging, Bog Snorkelling and Cheese rolling, the UK is also the birthplace of a multitude of other, equally quirky sports, with names just as entertaining. So, if you ever need some self-validation, and feel like you have a chance at winning one of these incredibly unique sports, do some research, and you might find some local competitions.
