Six of the weirdest Swiss sporting traditions
Sophie Inge - [email protected] •
3 Sep, 2013
Updated Tue 3 Sep 2013 15:00 CEST
The Swiss have a reputation for enjoying - and being good at - ice hockey, skiing and tennis. What you might not know is that Switzerland is also home to a host of lesser-known sports. The Local takes a look at six of the most unusual.
Last week, hundreds of thousands of visitors crammed into the town of Burgdorf in the canton of Bern's Emmental valley.
Not for a football match, but for the chance to attend a unique Swiss wrestling contest known as the “Schwingfest” where wrestlers battle it out in a pit of sawdust dressed in sackcloth shorts.
On Sunday the canton’s local star Matthias Sempach was crowned “Schwingerkoenig” or “King of the Schwingers” earning himself a prize two-year-old bull known as “Fors vo dr Lueg” worth 22,000 francs ($23,640).
If this sporting tradition strikes you as fairly odd, wait until you read about some of Switzerland’s other weird and wonderful sports.
Click here to view a gallery of six of the weirdest Swiss sporting traditions
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