Have you ever wondered about the weird sports around the world? The sports that are unorthodox and very different from your usual experience, but are extremely fun to watch at the same time. Well, as it turns out, there are several weird and unique sports from around the world that will surely make your head turn.

                                       Wife Carrying

This sport is exactly what it sounds like. The premise is to carry your wife through an obstacle course. While running through the obstacle course, contestants can expect to be faced with two dry obstacles and one water obstacle which is about one meter deep…all while carrying your wife on your back. The official length of the track is 253.5 meters. The sport originated in Sonkajarvi, Finland, but does not seem to have any dates attached to it. Many countries including the U.S., Australia, Estonia, the U.K., and Hong Kong have contestants who compete in wife carrying, just to name a few. At the annual North American Wife Carrying Championship, the prizes for the winners consist of the wife’s weight in beer, 5 times her weight in cash, and entry into the world championships which are held in Finland. Though it is an odd sport, many people take it quite seriously and enjoy watching and playing this weird sport.

Chess Boxing

Another self explaining name, this sport is a combination of traditional chess and boxing. The sport consists of eleven rounds where the athletes alternate between playing the cerebral game of chess and the physical sport of boxing. It was invented by Lepe Rubingh, a Dutch performance artist. Traditionally thought to be an art performance, chess boxing quickly turned into a full blown sport that is particularly enjoyed in Germany, India, U.K. and Russia. The first ever chess boxing competition took place in 2003 in Berlin, Germany. Later that year, the first ever world championships was held for chess boxing in Amsterdam in cooperation with the Dutch Boxing Association along with the Dutch Chess Federation under the support of the World Chess Boxing Organization (WCBO), which was recently formed beforehand in Berlin. The sport is still played and enjoyed by many, featuring world championships annually or biannually depending on the WCBO. 

 Cheese Rolling                   

Cheese rolling is a less structured and much simpler sport than some of the others on the list. The game is played by rolling a large cheese wheel down a hill, then the competitors chase after the cheese wheel. The first person down the hill wins the wheel of cheese. It is an annual event which takes place at Cooper’s hill in Gloucestershire, U.K. Though it seems like a very easy, non-competitive sport, given the steepness of the particular hill, many competitors end up getting injured. Being the less serious sport that it is, it still draws attention from people looking to compete and people wanting to watch.

Underwater Hockey

Originating in the U.K. under the name of Octopush Underwater Hockey or UWH was created in 1954 by founder of the newly formed Southsea sub-aqua club, Alan Blake. It was created as a means to keep the members of the club active over the winter months when open-water diving loses its appeal. The game gained popularity internationally allowing it to become an actual sport with the first world championships taking place nearly thirty years later in 1980. The premise is that of other hockey games where each player has a stick and the objective is to use the stick to hit the puck into the opposing teams net.

           Shin Kicking

Like many of the other sports on this list, Shin Kicking hails from the U.K., created in the early 17th century. Considered a combat sport, the premise of shin kicking is quite simple, kick your opponent’s shins until one of the two hits the ground. The Shin-Kicking World Championship is part of the Cotswold OlympicGames which is an annual event that takes place north of the english town Chipping Campden at Dover’s Hill.

Though some of the sports on this list seem very strange and almost not even a sport, many people from around the world enjoy these sports for both fun and competition. Next time you are thinking about trying out a new sport of any kind, give these five weird sports around the world some consideration.