The Italians love their football, they're big fans of rugby, and they seem to enjoy a good scrap. The only logical conclusion was to combine them all into some sort of weird sport, obviously.
Calcio Fiorentino was not something we'd ever heard of before now, but apparently it's a game that dates back hundreds of years to some time in the fifteenth century, and may even have its roots in the Roman game of harpastum.
Essentially, it's a cross between mixed martial arts (or bare-knuckle boxing) and rugby, where you need to get the ball over the opposition lines by any and all means necessary, in a very Machiavellian style, and it looks like pretty much anything goes.
As a result, it descends into a sort of boxing match where there's also a ball somewhere that you might want to pay some attention to, but that shouldn't distract you too much from the fighting.
The video above is footage from this year's event, which took place in June and goes on for about an hour, but you can get a good flavour of the game from the kick off which starts at the 7:25 mark. Well, it's not so much a kick off as the start of a Royal Rumble, but you get the gist.
Apart from being really weird, this game has a rich history, and it was apparently even played by a few different Popes, including Clement VII, Leo XI and Urban VIII. Something tells us Pope Francis won't be partaking in next year's festivities though...
Via Balls.ie. Main pic via Wikipedia
