All modern sports can seem faintly ridiculous to the non-affiliated. How on earth did anyone come up with cricket? Or two packs of eight sturdy warriors all hugging each other, crouching down and locking heads before a pointy ball is introduced among them? It always surprises me that one player, ears tattered from similar battles, doesn’t struggle loose and walk away, shouting: “I’m sorry, I can’t. This is too weird.”
Behind all the bizarre practices of our favourite sports, the offside rules, the silly points and forty-loves, it’s obvious that what we want from our sport is fun physical exercise and the chance to test ourselves against others. If this can be achieved in a beautiful place with the opportunity for a post-match debrief in an excellent pub, then all the better. So here we have the alternative sporting calendar: games and challenges that may seem a little bizarre at first but take place in great locations around Britain.
