Sports that have disappeared

[Reed John]

Example

Back in the day, jai-alai players marched out to crowds of 15,000 fans. And though players still march out to greet the patrons at Miami Jai-Alai, there are only a hundred of them, if that. Video via @ESPN App http://es.pn/2aiF7cn

[trimster]

Sports that have disappeared

Reed John wrote: Example

Back in the day, jai-alai players marched out to crowds of 15,000 fans. And though players still march out to greet the patrons at Miami Jai-Alai, there are only a hundred of them, if that. Video via @ESPN App http://es.pn/2aiF7cn

One guy in "Mad Men" thought it would catch on, but Don Draper and the others were sceptical.

[Reed John]

Sports that have disappeared

Whitey Bulger is part of the history too.

http://m.tulsaworld.com/blogs/news/throwbacktulsa/throwback-tulsa-mob-style-murder-at-posh-golf-course-shocked/article_5f0464f1-6fd5-5d8a-bc95-ad56bb5f69b1.html?mode=jqm

[Sits]

Sports that have disappeared

Billiards.

[Gerontophile]

Sports that have disappeared

Not in the Netherlands. The tables (no pockets) are everywhere.

[Reed John]

Sports that have disappeared

Gerontophile wrote: Not in the Netherlands. The tables (no pockets) are everywhere.

Billiards/pool is still a fairly popular pastime, but it's not on tv much here and nobody makes a living at it now.

I don't get why Jai Alai has to be tied to gambling. I'd like to go watch it just to watch it.

[Gerontophile]

Sports that have disappeared

Yeah, but specifically billiards, because pool is still big in bars, and it's still on satellite TV in the UK/Europe.

[tee rex]

Sports that have disappeared

Tug of war. Not disappeared altogether, but not likely to return to the Olympics. It was the only sport I had any success in at school, I was made for falling over backwards.

[Southport Zeb]

Sports that have disappeared

British (or Welsh) baseball is a game that lies somewhere between (US) baseball and rounders. Traditionally it has been strongest in Liverpool and South Wales, with the annual England v Wales match drawing a crowd of a few thousand, sometimes upto ten thousand.

Last year saw the England v Wales game not played for the first time (other than the war years) in more than a century, as England couldn't put a team together. This is largely because the game has almost disappeared in Liverpool, with only one or two clubs remaining. Things are slightly better in South Wales, but numbers of declining there as well.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Sports that have disappeared

Tilting at rings (no sniggering at the back)

[Lang Spoon]

Sports that have disappeared

Even ESPN 8 (the Ocho!) never filmed a game of pitch and toss. I can remember fights breaking out over bouts of juvi gambling.

[Reed John]

Sports that have disappeared

Barrel jumping
https://youtu.be/qKW6mqLxHBs

The reference to Welsh baseball lead me to watch a bit on YouTube. Somehow, I'd never seen that before. I can see, however, why it's less popular than cricket or American baseball.

[Me Old Flower]

Sports that have disappeared

Shinty in Northern England.

[Alderman Barnes]

Sports that have disappeared

Blimey, I had no idea that Welsh baseball existed, or that it was such a big thing until relatively recently. Those clips have also given me some sort of idea what underarm bowling in cricket must have looked like, which I previously could not even imagine.

In Germany and many other countries, field handball was very popular up until the 1960s, when the indoor version took over. Field handball is now for all intents and purposes extinct, which is a shame, because from the few clips I've seen, it looks a lot more interesting.

It was as if the whole world suddenly gave up football and started watching five-a-side instead.

[evilC]

Sports that have disappeared

I may be wrong in this, but it feels like there has been a decline in interest in the traditional outdoor forms of both Trials motorcycling and Motocross (scrambling) on 'natural' courses.

The indoors versions or those over man-made outdoor courses - which seem to have been instigated by Red Bull and others, purely for the convenience factor and ease of TV coverage - have taken over. And yet watching them, with the absence of weather, tree roots, 'topographic' obstacles such as steep hillsides and even simple changes of soil type make it an anodyne experience to watch them.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Sports that have disappeared

Horseshoe pitching seems to be dying a death. There was a rink(?, area(?), course(?)* in the park when I lived here 15 years ago but it's gone now.

*It's a horseshoe pitching "court," I checked.

[Reed John]

Sports that have disappeared

It's been replaced by the unfortunately named cornhole.

https://youtu.be/23_oA1sNX3w

[Gerontophile]

Sports that have disappeared

Well, that looks like fun! Throwing beanbags into an uphill box.

[Reed John]

Sports that have disappeared

It's extremely common at tailgate parties before football (helmeted version) games. The boards can easily be folder up and carried in pick-up truck, SUV or trunk of a large car. And, unlike horseshoes, stray throws pose little danger to spectators or nearby non-spectators. It can easily be played with a drink in one hand.

Can Jam is another like that. https://youtu.be/BC3daVUZiIU

[Reed John]

Sports that have disappeared

I always thought shinty was like hurling, but YouTube shows me that it's more like field hockey, I guess.

[cláirseach]

Sports that have disappeared

Shinty was a lot more like hurling, or rather, hurling (particularly in the north-east) then was a lot more like shinty remains, but they quite naturally grew apart.

[Bored Of Education]

Sports that have disappeared

tee rex wrote: Tug of war. Not disappeared altogether, but not likely to return to the Olympics.

Which is genuinely a bloody disgrace.

[Bored Of Education]

Sports that have disappeared

We could say competitive jousting except it is genuinely a sport now and, again, I would love to see it at the Olympics. Apparently, there are bike and, I think, motorbike versions.

[Various Artist]

Sports that have disappeared

Do the competitors still vie for a lady's favours to wear into the lists? I don't suppose they follow the jousting with a battleaxe or sword-fighting competition either, do they?

The mere thought of shinty terrifies me, as a sort of even more primal and lethal version of hurling or lacrosse. The very name sounds like bone splintering.

Cheese-rolling is a 'sport' in danger of extinction at the hands of health & safety regulations. The famous Cooper's Hill event had to have the cheese replaced with a foam replica a couple of years ago.

[Reed John]

Sports that have disappeared

Why? The cheese isn't what makes it dangerous, I'd think.