Plunging for Distance
Plunging for distance is a bizarre sport that was even once a competition category in the Olympics. Despite being held in a standard pool with a diving board, this 1920s discipline’s similarity to swimming ends there, as participants were instructed to hit the water and immediately stop moving their limbs. Instead of swimming, competitors were judged on how far they could float in a minute without any propulsion.
Goose Pulling
Animal rights are a fairly modern invention, so it should surprise no one to know that historical sports often involve practices that PETA wouldn’t approve of. Goose pulling, in which a man on horseback would grab the head of a goose tied to a pole and attempt to remove it with the force of his riding, was a popular pastime from the 17th to the mid-19th century.
Quintain
Quintain was a form of jousting that existed alongside the more popular person vs. person sport for centuries. To compete, jousters were tasked with riding at a full gallop and striking a shield or mannequin mounted to a pole with their lances as they passed. This sport was often used to train riders for traditional jousts and has remained a mainstay of Renaissance faires and reenactments.
Club Swinging
Club swinging might sound like some primitive combat sport, but it actually had nothing to do with hitting and injuring an opponent. Instead, this sport was centred around a kind of juggling or gymnastics, with the clubs being swung in complicated patterns around the body and head for points. Judges awarded scores based on both difficulty and execution.
Auto Polo
Auto Polo is a historical sport that is exactly what it says on the tin. Instead of horses, participants would ride in old-school cars and hit balls with modified croquet mallets, attempting to get them through goals at either end of the designated playing space. This sport was only ever really played within Europe and America and was popular for just a scant decade in the early 20th century.
Barrel Jumping
Barrel jumping is another sport that it’s easy to get an idea of just by hearing the name. With that said, what the name leaves out is that this sport was conducted entirely on ice. That’s right, ice skaters would be tasked with leaping over barrels stacked in a line along the ice, aiming to get the maximum jump distance without clipping the obstacles.
Equestrian Fencing
Before it was a sport, fencing was a practical skill learned for both national warfare and personal safety. In addition, for much of history, battles were fought on horseback. Therefore, it makes sense that for a time, fencing on horseback was a popular sport enjoyed by many classes and types of people. The rules were officially set down in 1906, though informal competitions are much older.
Canoe Hurdling
Canoeing is already a difficult sport that can be made dangerous by weather and other environmental factors. Canoe hurdling, an extinct sport popular in New Zealand and throughout Polynesia in which canoes were paddled over rolling wooden beams placed high in the water, was an even more dangerous variation. As a result, it was apparently an excellent spectator sport.
Rooster Throwing
Rooster throwing is one of the most upsetting extinct sports out there, but it was also one of England’s most popular blood sports until the late 18th century. Rather than the name referring to the roosters themselves being thrown, the sport instead consisted of men, women and children throwing weighted sticks at a restrained rooster until it passed away. It was eventually outlawed.
Pankration
Sometimes called the historical forefather of MMA or Mixed Martial Arts, Pankration is one of the oldest sports on the historical record. Debuting at the 33rd Greek Olympic Games in 648 B.C., this now-extinct sport was a mixture of boxing and wrestling that was famous for having very few restrictions on the kind of pain participants could inflict. Only eye gouging and biting were banned.
