Ancient and Extinct Sports
We have listed over a thousand sports that are found throughout the world. A few of these listed sports are not played anymore, which I have termed extinct sports. Some of these extinct sports are listed below.
A variation of goose pulling is still practiced today List of Ancient and Extinct Sports
- Austus — a hybrid sport between Australian Rules Football and American Football, created in Australia during World War II when soldiers stationed there from the USA wanted to play football against the Australians.
- Auto Polo — like horse polo though the players are on automobiles instead of horses.
- Bando — a team sport played in 18th and 19th century in Wales using sticks with curved ends like hockey, and goals at either end of a large rectangular field. It has similarities to modern day sports of hurling, hockey, shinty and bandy.
- Barrel Jumping — ice skaters attempt to jump over a series of barrels.
- Bladderball — It was a traditional game played between 1954-1982 at Yale University. The game resembled other forms of mob football in which any number of people can be a part in each team, and the only objective of the sport was to gain possession of the large inflated leather ball by any means necessary.
- Board Track Racing — a motorsport which was popular in the United Stated between the 1910s and 1920s, Most of the competitions were held on circular or oval race course composed of wooden planks.
- Caid — the name given to various ancient and traditional Irish football games, which some believe to have influenced the modern sport of Gaelic Football.
- Camping — a particularly tough and dangerous version of Medieval Football popular in some parts of England, using a ball the size of a cricket ball. Also known as campyon, campan, or campball.
- Canoe Hurdling — a sport in which participants in canoes attempt to paddle over logs placed in the water.
- Canoe Tilting — participants on canoes attempt to knock each other off and into the water.
- Chariot Racing — the most popular sport in Ancient Greece, Rome and the Byzantine Era.
- Chester-le-Street — a type of medieval football, where an unlimited number of people played in the streets of Chester-le-Street town in England.
- Club Swinging — an old sport that involves the competitor standing with a bowling pin shaped club in each hand then whirling or swinging the clubs very quickly around the body and head in a variety of patterns in a complicated routine.
- Cnapan — a Celtic form of Medieval Football, played between parishes where the object of the game was to take the ball to the church of the home parish using any means possible. A small wooden ball was used, soaked in fat to make it hard to handle.
- Cock Throwing — a rooster is tied to a post and people took turns throwing sticks at it until the rooster died.
- Cricket on Horseback — a short-lived sport which is how it sounds, players attempted to play cricket while riding a horse.
- Crossage (Chole) — a traditional Belgian golf-like sport played on the streets where the aim is to get a wooden ball through a series of goals.
- Cuju — an ancient Chinese ball game that involves kicking a ball into a net.
- Equestrian Fencing — sword fighting on horseback.
- Fox Tossing — with a person on each end of a sling tossed the fox upwards, the team with the highest throw would win.
- Gladiator Battles — combats in ancient Rome, usualy to the death.
- Goose Pulling — a goose was hung by its legs while a man on a horseback would attempt to grab it by the neck to try and pull its head off.
- Harpastum — a popular form of ball game played during the Roman Empire.
- Indoor Base Ball — indoor variation of baseball that was a precusor to modern softball.
- Jeu de Paume — originally played with the hand, the precursor to real tennis and modern lawn tennis.
- Jousting — a medieval sport in which two competitors on horsebacks, wielding long lances with blunted tips try to take down each other.
- Kila — a traditional Russian game with similarities to rugby, using a pumpkin-shaped ball.
- Knattleikr — an ancient ball game played by the Vikings of Iceland, using a stick or the hand. It is often reenacted at medieval fairs by Norse culture enthusiasts.
- Knurr and spell — an old English game game from Yorkshire in England, using a stick to hit a ball launched from a trap.
- Kolven — a medieval sport from the Netherlands where the aim is to hit a ball to a target in the minimum number of strokes - a precursor to golf.
- Kubihiki — the traditional Japanese strength sport of neck pulling or neck wrestling.
- La Soule — a traditional team sport that originated in Normandy and Picardy. Usually teams from neighboring parishes played, with the aim of the game to bring a ball back to the team's parish church, with or without the use of sticks. Also known as choule.
- Medieval Football — Alternative names include Folk Football, Mob Football and Shrovetide Football. Medieval football is a general term used to call a variety of localized ball games which were invented in the Middle Ages. Versions include Ba game, Caid, Calcio Fiorentino, Camping, Chester-le-Street, Cnapan, Cornish Hurling, Haxey Hood, La Soule, Lelo burti, Royal Shrovetide Football, Uppies and Downies.
- Mêlée (also spelled mellay) — an ancient and medieval game, a predecessor of modern Association football (soccer), in which a ball was kicked, punched, carried, or driven toward a goal.
- Mesoamerican Ballgame — an ancient sport that was played by people of Ancient Mesoamerica.
- Mob Football — A type of Medieval Football, usually an annual traditional event with a ball, unlimited number of players and very few rules.
- Pall Mall — a lawn game that was a precursor to croquet, which was played between the 1500's and the 1600's.
- Pankration — a sporting event introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC which was like a combination of boxing and wrestling, in this event the combatants were allowed to punch, though biting and gouging an opponent's eyes, nose, or mouth with fingernails was not allowed.
- Pedestrianism — a 19th-century form of competitive walking
- Pentathlon — the ancient Olympic pentathlon was an athletic competition which consisted of five events, running, javelin throw, discus throw, long jump, and wrestling.
- Pigeon Shooting — hunting is still a popular pastime today, though the sport of shooting usually does not involve live animals, like the pigeon shooting event at the early modern Olympic Games.
- Plunge for Distance — an ex-Olympic sport in which participants dived into the water, aiming for the longest distance while remaining motionless.
- Quintain — competitors on horsebacks with long lances try to hit a stationary object hanging from a pole.
- Singlesticks — a type of fencing event in which a wooden stick, known as the singlestick, was used as the weapon.
- Town Ball — a bat-and-ball sport with similarities to rounders which was played in North America during 18th and 19th century. The sport was a precursor to the development of modern day baseball.
- Trucco — an Italian lawn game where heavy balls are hit with large-headed cues through rings on the ground.
- Ulu Maika — an ancient Hawaiian sport with some similarities to bowling
- Venationes — a type of public spectacle in ancient Rome that featured animal hunts - between beasts or between men and beasts, staged in an amphitheatre (usually in connection with gladiator shows).
- Volata — a short-lived ball game that was developed in fascist Italy as a substitute for association football and rugby union. It was played by eight-man sides to rules that were a hybrid of those for football and handball. Basically the ball could be played by using hands and feet, but for not more than three seconds.
- Underwater Swimming — competitors were awarded points for each meter swum underwater, and for how long they stayed under water.
- Universal Football — a hybrid sport of Australian rules football (AFL) and rugby league, which was played only once in 1933 and unfortunately did not gain popularity.
Related Pages
- Some suggested extinct sports
- About Extinct Sports
- Blood sports — gruesome sports which are mostly not played anymore
- Complete List of Sports
- New Sports
- Discontinued Olympic Sports
- List of unusual sports
Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.
