Sports that Never (Quite) Made It

Article by Alex Martin. Edited by Hannah Lyons. Additional Research by Jon Park.

Folk Wrestlers

The history of sport is quite fascinating; watching some kind of physical or strategic competition is something that all cultures engage in. Many modern day sports are the evolved specimens of ancient common ancestors. These dinosaurs and dodos of the sporting world are fascinating quirks of bygone cultures. However, during my research, I came across a problem; extinction in sport is far less common than in biological evolution. If environmental conditions change then species die, sports however, prevail. For example, football is played in the tundra of Greenland and the deserts of Australia. Moreover when materials become more sophisticated sports don’t simply disappear, they breed. For example the top rate of a racing horse is around 35 miles per hour whereas an F1 car can reach 230 miles per hour. However just the gambling side of the horse racing industry is worth around $115 Billion. However, this does not mean that there aren’t obscure historical sports worthy of mention, although they are mostly forgotten and left to the archives where a few diehard modern day supporters devote their leisure to their chosen pastime.

Roque

This is a game incredibly similar to Croquet, (note the spelling of the two sports), except it was played on a faster, harder, sand court. It was played mainly in America in the late 19th century and was a pastime of the richer echelons of society. Despite an appearance at the 1904 Olympics and a publication of official in 1920, the popularity of the pastime has all but fizzled out.

Folk Wrestling

This is a sport that appears in almost all cultures, yet with many subtle and obvious variations. There is an amazing diffusion of wrestling styles to suit each local taste, for example there is Irish ‘collar-and-elbow’ wrestling that possibly dates back to 632 BC. This type of wrestling involves clasping your opponents elbow and collar and attempting to sweep under your opponents legs. Meanwhile, the Icelandic version ‘Glima,’ discourages downward pushing and wrestling blind. ‘Persian oil’ wrestling is another style; here competitors wear oiled leather trousers to decrease the likelihood of submission holds. The Senegalese traditional is still the country’s most popular sport

Roller Derby

This is an American game that involves two teams racing on the same oval track with one ‘jammer’ on each side. These ‘jammers’ attempt to lap each other whilst teammates block, shove and push as violently as possible. This was very much a sport which was infused with a ‘do-it-yourself’ spirit and an emphasis on grassroots competition. ‘Roller Derby’ reached its height in the mid 70’s an early 80’s, surprisingly it reached live audiences of over 30,000 spectators. Despite the violence associated with ‘Roller Derby’ it is pre-dominantly a female sport with a great emphasis on theatre as well as competition. Many participants, for example, took on aliases and characters e.g. Anna Mossity.

Jeu de Paume

‘Jeu de Paume’ was a French game similar to tennis, played indoors and without rackets. It had only one Olympic run in 1908, with American Jay Gould claiming the gold medal. However the sport has had an international trophy since 1740. It is also considered to be the common ancestor of Tennis, Lawn Tennis, Real Tennis, Badminton and Volleyball.

Lusos Troiae (Troy Game)

‘Lusos Troiae’ was an Ancient Roman equestrian event; all the participants were young nobles with competent riding ability. Most of our historical knowledge about this event comes from one poem that unusually suggests there was no competition between the participants – it was a performance piece designed to demonstrate collective skill which could be compared with other previous ‘Lusos Troiae’ performances.

Basque pelota/Pelote basque

This was a squash-like Spanish/Basque sport which consisted of two walls and a variety of scoring systems, rackets and bats. Strangely there were eleven different ways of playing ‘Basque pelota.’ World Championships were held every year (since 1952) with the French as current league leaders. Notably however, there have only ever been 8 nations (France, Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Cuba, U.S.A. and Chile) competing. It was once an Olympic sport, unfortunately for those interested, the records of the tournament no longer exist.

Murder

Gladiatorial games where humans killed animals and other humans.

Pallone

This sport was highly popular in Italy, with evidence of codified rules existing from 1555. It was originally played with a hyper inflated ball which was batted back and forth, however the ball eventually became made of hard rubber (to increase the speed and excitement of the game.) Unfortunately this new system increased the likelihood of broken arms and in some extreme cases, death. The scoring system was the first recorded system of 15 and 10, the method used in modern day tennis.

Kottobas

This was an Ancient Greek skill game that involved drinking wine and throwing the remnant ‘lees’ (dead yeast that was left in the wine mug) at a brass target. Traditionally the participants would shout what they desired; allegedly the more accurate the throw the more likely the wish would come true. ‘Kottobas’ was more of an after dinner ritual that took on a life of its own than a professionalised competition. Nevertheless, the fusion of alcohol, eye hand coordination and projectiles has led me to believe that ‘Kottobas’ was a forerunner to modern day darts.

And so this is my list of bygone sports, H.L. Mencken once compiled a list of every dead religion and redundant deity, finding almost one thousand failed beliefs. The list was a far more earnest and comprehensive attempt compared to my humble offering of bygone sports. However, when comparing my own list to Mencken’s religious one, we can identify that sports seem to have far more resiliency, and in many cases, many more devotees.

*****

Roller Derby is run in America by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, which still adjudicates and ranks the top Roller Derby teams. Their website is http://flattrackstats.com/

The International Federation of Basque Pelota (FIPV), acts as international authority for Basque Pelota, aiming to support the development of Pelota by helping to create new federations and better organizing the already existing ones. Their website is http://www.fipv.net/en

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