5 Most Brutal Sports In History

sports are one of the most popular forms of entertainment and have been a part of human society for as long as people have lived together in groups however unlike the safety-conscious billion-dollar industries that many modern sports have become the games played by our ancestors were far darker and dangerous firmly rooted in training and preparation for these sports pitted men against one another in highly charged and often incredibly violent matches where participants face the very real risk of suffering a grievous injury or worse here at my toys is four or five of the most brutal sports in history number five the Mayan ball game played as far back as 3500 years ago this ancient American sport was much more than just a game with every match a matter of life and death as the players competed not any for victory and glory but for their very lives in a fast-paced and brutal ritualistic contest where severe injuries were not only common but accepted as part of the sport as the nine pounds solid rubber ball hurtled around the stone court at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour perusing exposed flesh breaking bones and even killing contestants with the final whistle ending not just the game but the lives of one unlucky team who would be beheaded in a dark sacrifice to appease angry gods first played by Mesoamerican groups in around 2500 BC the sport is one of the oldest athletic games in human history the tribes of ancient Central and South America including the Maya and Aztecs utilizing the commonly found robber tree to create a bouncing ball that would spawn a competitive game that was part sport part religious ritual the ruins of the courts upon which the game was played have been found at hundreds of locations stretching from Nicaragua in the south to as far north as the u.s. state of Arizona and although played by numerous tribes and peoples living in these areas perhaps the most well-preserved examples of the sport are in what's left of the Maya and Aztec cities the courts were one of the city's main focal points often located near its main temple and although usually the size of a basketball court some were as big as a football field the stadium's long central anyway was flanked by two slanted made walls on which the ball could be bounced and ricocheted and high platforms on either side allowed huge numbers of spectators to view the action taking place below yet most disturbingly of all the structures included massive skull racks which his floor would be filled with the heads of previous players who had lost and subsequently been sacrificed the empty eye sockets of the dozens of skulls gazing down upon the players below as a grim reminder of just how much was at stake in the match the exact rules and objectives of the game are not entirely known but utilizing references found at various sites along with accounts from Spanish explorers it's thought that the game was similar to modern-day racquetball where the primary aim is to keep the ball in play two teams of between 2 and 6 players each would attempt to force their opponents to lose control of the ball and let it touch the ground striking the 9 pound sphere of rubber with just the hips legs forearms knees and elbows while other variations of the game allowed for the use of rackets and bats however one common theme amongst these variations seems to be the rule that no hands could be used to touch the ball points could be gained by hitting the wall at the end of the course with the ball however points would be deducted if the ball touched the floor more than twice or went out of the designated boundaries while passing the ball through the stone ring attached to both side walls and raised several meters from the ground would earn a decisive victory and end the game immediately thanks to the incredible difficulty of achieving such a feat despite usually being clad in basic protective gear such as hip guards helmets and knee pads the sheer violence of the game combined with the 9 pound solid rubber ball hurtling around a speeds of up to 30 miles per hour meant that terrible injuries were a frequent occurrence with each player almost certain to be bloodied and bruised by the end of the match as players threw themselves against the walls and ground as they desperately fought to keep the ball in play Spanish explorers who observed matches taking place noted that the players bodies were almost completely covered in bruises with some being so bad that they needed to be lanced open while the heavy and fast-moving ball frequently outright cured players when it hit them in the head or ruptured their internal organs after an especially hard blow to the body when the game fine came to an end only one of the teams would be going home hub of historians are still in disagreement about which side would lift the play in other day some believe that the losing team would be sacrificed to the gods upon the court by suffering disembowelment and decapitation while others believe that since it was a great honor to be sacrificed such a grisly fate was reserved only for winners and there is even speculation that the heads and skulls of players sacrificed in previous matches would sometimes be used as balls in fact such scenes of human sacrifice feature heavily in artwork found on ball court panels leading some historians to theorize that the ball games also used for sacrificing captives taken during war the prisoners forced to pay a rigged game that would result in their heads being offered up as a tribute to the gods it's clear that the game was seen as far more than just a simple sport by the people who practiced it and is thought that the contest may have been used as a method for resolving disputes and conflict before they escalated into outright war the outcome of a ball game settling disagreements without the need for a destructive and bloody battle the ball court evolved into an important part of maeín and Aztec culture becoming the scene of religious rituals and mythical reenactments and it's possible that the spectators believed that the match itself represented a literal battle between light and darkness with the sacrifice of one team a necessary step to satisfy the gods and ward off the end of the world yet a game of such grand importance did not escape the more base of human traits and Spanish observers commented with disgust on how the locals participated in large-scale betting even going so far as to bet the homes farms and children on the outcome of a single game with some even staking their own lives on a match forced to become slaves or even worse should they lose number 4 chariot racing a favorite of both the Greeks and Romans Chariot Racing was without doubt the most popular spectator sport in the ancient world the bored citizens who populated sprawling cities like Rome and Constantinople drawn to the opportunity for escapism offered by the bloody spectacle the sport had become with vast crowds of over a quarter of a million filling the legendary Circus Maximus in Rome to revel in the violence and death that a match was always guaranteed to offer as racers from across the empire were drawn to its cities and the promise of wealth risking gruesome deaths on the stadium sands for a chance of untold Fame and riches the lucky few who against the odds made vast fortunes eclipsed by the Forgotten majority who would meet a grisly end crushed under the wheels and hooves of their opponents chariot and horses or smashed against the cold stone columns of the racetrack to the sounds of cheers and applause from the bloodthirsty fans the broken and lifeless bodies to be collected and disposed off at the end of a match as though they were merely litter cleansing the sands before the next race where the violent cycle would begin again in a never-ending quest to satisfy the demands of spectators for excitement and danger for as long as mankind has been riding horses he has also been racing them and records dating as far back as ancient Egypt showed just how much of an integral part of ancient culture horse racing was however chariot racing first seems to have become a crowd favorite with the ancient Greeks with the sport being one of the main events of the Olympics as prominent Greeks sought to demonstrate their prosperity to the masses by funding the competitors in an effort to win public exposure and fame yet it was the Romans who took this ain't from the sport and turned it into a violent spectacle for the masses with vast fortunes wagered on the outcome of a race as city streets emptied into the circuses and dampe theaters that rapidly sprung up across the Empire her people desperate to escape the humdrum existence of everyday life with a brief moments of bloody escapism with the duel and the Empire's sporting crown being the Circus Maximus a vast racetrack that was said to have been able to seat as many as 250 thousand spectators hungry for nay hem destruction and excitement the chariot races were usually organized into four teams the blues greens reds and whites with each team attracting its own set of almost fanatical supporters from the spectators each team was allowed to enter up to three chariots in a single race with members of the same team often working together to try and eliminate their mutual opponents forcing them to crash or lose control of their chariot yet individual racers were not bound to a single team and were free to transfer or even be traded amongst the various factions much like sports teams trade and transfer players today two-wheel chariots were drawn by two four or even six horses with the goal of completing seven laps of the circus before any of the other entrants as the charioteers battled against one another each doing their best to seize the advantage by taking the shorter route along the inside of the track charioteers were more often than not slaves desperate for a way to earn money to buy their own freedom or men drawn from the lower classes by the potential for immense wealth and fame however the dangerous they would face on the stadium sands were staggering a series of staggered mechanical gates allowed a fair start for all participants however once the race began all ideals of fair play were completely discarded as each man used any and all means necessary to beat his opponents no matter how risky or outright unsportsmanlike the chariot started in front of one another in an attempt to cause their opponents to swerve and crash using every dirty trick in the book to break their rivals concentration and cause them to suffer an accident and put the meager rules that existed rarely enforced whips stones and a variety of weapons could be used on any charioteer or horse within striking distance in an effort to drive them out of the race while even spectators got involved in the action hurtling led cursed charms embedded with nails into the paths of chariots that threatened to overtake the team they supported in the heat of the race aggression and ruthlessness were every bit as important as skill yet perhaps the most dangerous part of the race was also the part that excited the crowd that most the sharp turns at the two ends of the track are where most of the crashes referred to by the Romans as shipwrecks took place as chariots traveling at high speed being around the tight corners and frequently lost control and overturned hurtling the driver onto the sands and into the path of the horses and carry us behind him where should he survive the initial crash he would face a grisly death trampled under an assortment of stampeding hooves and crushing wheels the chariots themselves were built to be as light as possible so that they could travel even faster however this made them far more vulnerable than ordinary War Terriers and safety wasn't helped by the fact that the drivers wrapped the horse reins around their waist meaning that in the event of a crash the driver would be unable to simply let go and would instead be dragged to his death by the horses as they continued to charge around the circus in fact the Swart was so dangerous that a recent study of charioteer graves revealed that the average age of death for the men was just 22 and even attempting to film just a recreation of the sport is fraught with danger as shown by the 1926 Hollywood movie Ben Hur where the chariot racing scenes cost the lives of five horses and one stuntman yet with great risk comes great rewards along enough winning streak could lead to immense fame and wealth and some estimates suggest that the highest-paid athlete of all time was an ancient Roman charioteer who is said to have amassed a fortune of around fifteen billion dollars during his career which numbered several thousand races which if true would make him the richest sport star in history number three mob football modern-day soccer has been plagued by outbreaks of disorder and violence at matches where rival hooligan fans who follow their chosen clubs with a tribal passion waved small scale Wars against one another however the professional billion-dollar industry that is the modern sport of football can trace its roots back to a number of various types of ball game played by peasants in medieval Europe where it wasn't the brutality of the fans that authorities had to be concerned about but that of the players as entire towns took to the streets to engage in a pastime that was little more than a semi organized mass riot with players venting pent-up anger and frustration upon one another resulting in frequent terrible injuries and even deaths as sometime around the 14th century localized versions of a game involving an inflated pig's bladder began springing up in towns and cities across Europe this archaic version of soccer growing wildly popular as it required no specialized or expensive equipment and was therefore accessible to all regardless of wealth and social class religious holidays such as Shrove Tuesday or one of the few times the hard worked peasants had for leisure and relaxation and so on these rare opportunities for socializing and fun entire towns and villages began competing against one another in a ball-based game that had virtually no rules with no limit on the number of players involved 2 swarming mobs from neighboring towns would clash on the streets and in the fields each side struggling for control of the inflated pig's bladder that served as a ball with just a single objective get the ball to the designated goal by any means possible with only outright murder disallowed often the two teams goals could be several miles apart and with so many hundreds or even thousands of people clashing in what was essentially an organized riot matches could take several hours to wind down with players dropping out of the game due to sheer exhaustion from the prolonged struggle with so many people battling against one another in tightly confined streets and town squares it's no surprise that injuries and even deaths were not only common but accepted as part and parcel of the sport large gatherings of people will always attract unsavory characters with violence on their mind and combined with the already heightened tensions brought about by strong and often hostile rivalries between the two teams tempers would often flare with the game being used as an excuse to take out personal frustrations on others and indulge in bloodshed that's on any normal day would have been unacceptable in the community in the tight press of brawling men bruised skin bloodied noses and broken limbs would likely be suffered by anyone brave or foolish enough to get too close to the action and reports of stabbings and other deadly attacks are common yet the deaths were not always deliberate in one more football match in medieval France 40 men are reported to have drowned in a pond when the ball found its way into the water the players forced underwater by the huge crowds and it's likely that people suffocating or simply having the life crushed out of them under the weight of the mob was an all too common occurrence unsurprisingly authorities attempted to crack down on what they saw as a public nuisance and even a danger to the status quo as peasants organized into large coherent groups could pose a real threat to the establishment and so Kings repeatedly tried to ban the sport with little success the violent pastime of peasants evolving into the money-making industry that is modern-day soccer number two cows ting what started out as little more than trading for war during times of peace would evolve into a high-stakes display of courage skill speed and strength that would capture the imagination of peasants nobles and even kings from across medieval Europe the spectacle of heavily armoured mounted Knights charging towards each other thrilling crowds hungry to witness the clash of arms and potential spilling of blood as the two armored juggernauts collided with a crushing force three and a quarter times their body weight in a medieval high-risk extreme sport that would frequently result in horrific injuries and even deaths as pointed Lance's crashed into Armour the participants willing to risk disfigurement and worse for the chance to showcase the courage and skill in front of the watching world the medieval mounted Knight was perhaps the most devastating battlefield weapon that the world had yet seen with just a single charge from these armored Titans enough to sweep away the opposition and turn the tide of a war the sight and sound of the rapidly approaching wall of iron enough the cause even the bravest foe to turn and flee for his life however like all professional full-time warriors the Knights needed constant training during times of peace to maintain their fearsome combat and equestrian skills what became known as jousting initially started as a way for Knights to hone their craft in peacetime by pitting them against fellow warriors in what was essentially a mock battle and combat simulation that would keep them at a high state of readiness should the leash need to call them to arms in their early form the joust simply involved a handful of knights engaging in a mass Mellie however as they started to become more popular with the spectators who watched them from the safety of the sidelines they began evolving into something far more elaborate and spectacular with fans of the jousts demanding ever more entertainment and with the Knights more than happy to show off that prowess to ever greater numbers of people these mock battles grew into formal tournaments that would be planned months in advance becoming elaborate displays of opulence that were publicized by heralds through poems and songs while the best warriors from across Europe would be attracted to the show's keen to demonstrate their bravery and skill in front of the rich and powerful watching on with admiration from the Seas with the best views the early forms of the jousting tournaments simply involved mass fights where the aim was to incapacitate your opponent and thus win a ransom yet the more structured later versions of the joust centered around a mock battle between two mounted Knights who would charge at each other and use their long Lance's to try and on horse their opponent or failing that to score points by breaking their lance against their rival shield and armor after the Lancers had been used up the fight could continue using shorter range weapons like axes and swords however the crowd seems to have been most enthralled with the mounted version of the joust strict rules governed the simulated combat which was not supposed to be lethal and violations of these regulations would result in a knight losing points deliberately targeting the opponent's horse was considered an outrageous violation of the chivalric code of conduct and could have you ejected from a tournament while killing the opposing knight outright would usually be considered a severe enough act to justify the docking of points a knight could increase his score by breaking Lance's against and landing blows on the enemy while on horsing his opponent would score bonus points yet when the joust progressed to the close combat stage the weaker of the two Knights was expected to yield to the dominant fighter before things got too serious however major injuries and deaths were unavoidable and indeed expected given the nature of the sport two mounted warriors clad in full plate armor weighing over 100 pounds and charging towards each other at speeds up to 30 miles per hour creates a lot of momentum this huge force concentrated at the point of a long thin Lance aimed at the other night shoulder so it's no surprise that Broken Bow dislocated shoulders and even shattered necks and backs were commonplace and when you consider the primitive medical treatments available at the time even a minor injury could cause death every night knew full well the risks he was taking when entering a tournament however the potential rewards for jousting success were simply too irresistible to ignore Gauss ting offered Knights not only an opportunity for prestige and fame one in front of crowds which could often exceed 10,000 but also the chance to amass huge wealth through prizes of money land and titles and winning big tournaments could lead to lucrative mercenary contracts from warlords on the lookout for skilled military professionals yet even those who already had everything a man could desire were still attracted to jousting by the opportunity to show just how courageous they were with several kings taking part in the risky matches however death knows no rank and royal blood would be spilled just like that of any other man King Henry ii of france died in 1559 when a large splinter from the shattered lance of his opponent found its way through his armored helmet fatally piercing the king's eye and several other European Kings suffered injuries that would plague them for their remaining lives number 1 gladiator combat it's no surprise that a competition where the primary objective is to disable or kill your opponent in hand-to-hand combat can be considered the bloodiest sport in history these violent matches between gladiators who were usually slaves and war captives taken during Rome's many destructive conquests threading crowds across the Empire of a hundreds of years during which perhaps hundreds of thousands or maybe even millions of men would take the last breath on the arena sands under the gaze of an enthusiastic audience and cruel uncaring patricians these ranks of the Damned who were considered at best commodities to be used for profit and at worse little more than animals fighting not just for their lives but to entertain and gain the approval of the spectators for a gladiator who lacked the crowd support might one day find himself also lacking their mercy when the inevitable time that he needed it came the fate of defeated but still living gladiators frequently decided by the whims of the mob whose favor was fleeting and fickle the exact origin of gladiatorial combat is unclear and open to debate however one of the earliest recorded fights is said to have taken place at the funeral of a prominent Roman aristocrat where slaves were forced to fight to the death in a violent spectacle that was arranged by the dead man's relatives to honor his memory while perhaps providing him with dead warriors to act as his attendants in the afterlife however the unusual practice was quickly copied by other families keen to give their deceased loved ones a lavish send-off the Roman elites sought to outdo one another by making provisions in their wills for ever more lavish gladiatorial contests and it wasn't long before the more cynical minded noticed just how popular these armed duels were with the common man exploiting their ability to thrill and entertain the mob as a way to purchase popularity and influence by sponsoring elaborate games that sometimes involved as many as 300 pairs of gladiators providing a free spectacle for the local community while at the same time showing off just how rich powerful and generous the sponsor was the sport became a huge money-making business while the lives of countless slaves and war captives were ended in public view in exchange for profit and prestige and hundreds of ampitheater sprung up across the Empire each one using violence and death as a means to celebrate everything from important military victories to birthdays and public holidays while some games were even held during turbulent times as a way of distracting the mob from the current problems that might have otherwise call host riots the unfortunate men who found themselves reduced a little more than fresh meat for the grinder that was this McCobb sport were usually drawn from the ranks of slaves criminals and prisoners of war however despite gladiators being doomed to a shore life of hardship and brutality many freemen voluntarily joined one of Rome's many gladiator schools perhaps seeking adventure Fame and the crowds approval or simply looking for an opportunity to pay off a crippling debt fed a high energy diet provided with a roof over the head and with a fighting chance at amassing great riches in the harsh Roman world perhaps the role of gladiator was not the worst fate that could man the fight between gladiators seems to have been governed by an intricate and elaborate set of rules although the exact details are now sadly lost a time however what is known is that organizers and spectators expected gladiators to abide by the regulations and that was even a referee present in the arena tasked with enforcing them a man who was usually an ex gladiator and whose decisions would have been respected by the younger fighters combatants would attempt to land blows on the major arteries under the arm and behind the knee in an effort to end the fight as quickly as possible and most balance a fool to have lasted around 10 minutes with few going on for longer than 20 minutes due to the exertion of fight to the death wrought upon the body however simply ending a match quickly and efficiently was not the only thing on the gladiators mind gladiatorial combat was essentially a war morphed into a sport to thrill the masses in a display of martial skill and nerve yet the watching crowd were primarily there to be entertained and nothing more contrary to popular belief gladiators were rarely outright killed by their opponents and defeat usually came in the form of being bested in combat the vanquished fighter forced to yield to the superior skill and athleticism of his foe doing so by raising his hand or finger a sign of submission and a request for mercy yet the defeated man's fate was often dependent upon the goodwill of the crowd goodwill which could be won or lost depending on how well he was judged to a fault always hungry to please the mob and win public favor the sponsor of the games were judged by the crowds reaction to this request for mercy worth it aspera defeated gladiator author order the victor to finish him off as the champion loomed over his prone opponent poised to deliver the fatal blow he looked to the editor for a signal on how to proceed his hands stayed until the final verdict was delivered if the crowd judged the defeated man's performance to be valiant they would urge the editor to save his life however should the man have acted cowardly or displeased the mob in some way that would be demands for his blood a turn of the editors thumb would seal the fallen gladiators fate with the most common way of finishing off the defeated gladiator being to plant a sword downwards through his neck and into his heart killing the man instantly and ending the match making way for the next belt of which there could be many each day across perhaps dozens of matches a wide range of gladiators fighting with vastly differing styles would be pitted against each other with combinations that greatly contrasted one another being especially popular the fast-moving but highly vulnerable net fighter armed with just a trident and net would frequently be paired with the heavily armored but highly encumbered sekito the differences between the two heightening the interest and suspense created by the fight while a whole host of other matchups including dual wielding swordsmen mounted fighters charioteers and lassoo men kept the game's varied and prevented the matchups becoming stale with 400 Riina's across the empire slaughtering an estimated 8,000 people every year the sport grew into a vast exercise in mass murder with the gladiators who fed the crowds insatiable hunger for blood unlikely to live past their 20s with most estimated to survive no more than 5 to 10 pounds with many perishing in their first match due to a lack of skill and experience in armed combat only the strongest toughest luckiest and most adored by the crowd would survive to have any long-term career however for those few who did the potential rewards to be won or immense vast fortunes the affections of highborn women lands and even freedom could be obtained through victory and winning the crowd support and admiration and despite the risky nature of the business contrary to popular opinion not every match ended with one of the fighters death a gladiator represented a considerable investment purchasing a slave and then training feeding and caring for him over many years made the more skilled fighters highly valuable and their owners would be reluctant to simply throw their lives away the majority of contests actually ended when one fighter was wounded or exhausted and thus yielded to his opponent and if a game sponsor required killing the gladiator trainer would charge a fee 100 times larger and sponsors wishing to supply the crowd with death would need to have very deep purses nevertheless death would eventually come for all but the most talented gladiators yet the epitaphs of those who fell on the sands reveal that many were proud of their profession bearing no resentment for the cards life dealt them perhaps accepting of their place in the world however for those who were reluctant to fight willingly leather whips and red-hot iron bars could be used to motivate the more rebellious minded gladiators into cooperation yet cases of mass defiance did occur with one notable example being that of a group of German prisoners who strangled each other in their cells rather than allow their deaths to provide entertainment for their hated enemies so those are my choices four or five of the most brutal sports in history as always thanks for spending your time watching my videos and I hope to see you again soon

Channel: Unknown5

Views: 217,230

Rating: 4.8190212 out of 5

Keywords: romans, gladiators, gladiator, ancient rome, top 5, unknown5, history, documentary, documentaries, ancient history, medieval, chariot racing, byzantine, byzantine empire, roman empire, educational, mob football, sports, sport, jousting, jousts, maya, aztec, soccer, football

Id: PWxm6RTnQo0

Length: 29min 7sec (1747 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 15 2018