WHO REMEMBERS? The UK Nostalgia Podcast
A nostalgia trip for anyone in the UK who grew up on dial-up Internet, Findus Crispy Pancakes, and playground rumours that couldn’t be fact-checked online. We’re not historians — we don’t do dates, and we barely do facts — but science says reminiscing gives your brain a dopamine hit, so think of us as your weekly dose of hazy memories, childhood flashbacks, and confidently misremembered events.
Expect frequent arguments about who remembers things properly as we rummage through the UK’s collective memory box.
WHO REMEMBERS? The UK Nostalgia Podcast
Who Remembers........Obscure Sports You Don't See On TV Anymore?
Remember when Saturday mornings meant rolling the dice on whatever sport TV gave you? We dive headfirst into the lost charms of Trans World Sport, the smoky brilliance of Indoor League, and the moments that made oddball competitions feel essential.
Subscribe, share with a friend who remembers kabaddi at breakfast, and leave a review telling us the strangest sport you ever watched on telly. Which one deserves a comeback?
Hello and welcome to the podcast Who Remembers? It's the first one of 2026. And in this episode, we're asking who remembers obscure sports that don't show on TV anymore?
SPEAKER_00:Right, good good uh happy good evening, good happy new year, Liam. How's things? Good happy new year. I've not heard that one. Yeah, I'm I'm laughing because we had before we started this, we've had a bit of a debate about what to call this uh podcast, the the title of this episode, and I sort of badmouthed you when you did your original intro, and then basically told you to repeat something that's a bit worse. So that's what I'm laughing at. It's throw me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you put your foot down. I got it wrong, referred the wrong version, and then you said, Yeah, maybe that is better.
SPEAKER_00:So I don't know what version you're gonna get.
SPEAKER_01:This is yeah, who knows? Uh who knows what it's gonna be called. This is the it's like behind the the director's cut, innit? You're seeing you're seeing it live in action, how we're gonna do it.
SPEAKER_00:It's chaos at the Who Remembers HQ most of the time. So we're doing this is because Alex Cape and someone else who I can't remember, and I did try to find it, but I can't remember, so sorry. Uh asked us to do Trans World Sport because Trans World Sport announced in December that it was finishing after 38 years, the uh show would start production. So I searched long and hard for episodes of Trans World Sport because I thought that's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01:The listener does not believe that.
SPEAKER_00:I went onto YouTube and put in trans world sport episodes, 80s and 90s, and I couldn't find barely anything. I didn't look on Daily Motion, too many adverts, but I looked long and hard on YouTube. I typed it in twice and I couldn't find anything. So I my idea at the time was I'll show you all these like trans world sport things and say, Oh, I remember trans world sport. There's not much there that I can go out, so I don't want to get it wrong, and I don't want to do like a full hour of whether it's going to be on trans world sport. So I thought, why not mix it up a little bit?
SPEAKER_01:By the way, like for the sort of modern woke audience, the the the trans referred to here is transatlantic, is it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, uh yeah, yeah, yeah. Transatlantic, I presume. So we're not we're not going down the politics route.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no, don't transatlantic world sport thing.
SPEAKER_00:Graham Lennon and immediately switching off. I'm having this. He's gone. No, no way, he's gone. Um, but yeah, so I thought this would be a really good idea to do because as I were talking to our man Ege, um, I was talking about like anyone like talking about other obscure sports that have been on TV because I think when you talk about trans world sport, the f what's the first thing you think of, Liam?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I is it too obvious what I'm gonna say that the the Route One, the the Kabade is what I was saying.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's it, that's it, Kabada. I think as soon as met so Trans World Sport, if people don't know, it used to air um Channel 4, um Sunday I always remember it sorry, Saturday mornings I always remember it.
SPEAKER_01:I think of it is Sunday, actually.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's a Saturday morning, I think.
SPEAKER_01:Um you're right, you're right. Yeah. It's pre-grandstand, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Because this is what we're amazing about this era, is that the the sport that you got on the terrestrial terrestrial TV channels was that's all you could see. If you didn't have Sky, you would basically you got what you were given. It's not like now where you can just type in rugby union and and watch a match or whatever an iPlayer or whatever you want to do.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's what they chose to show, wasn't it, each week?
SPEAKER_00:So it's you got drawing.
SPEAKER_01:Sorry, I know you've already said I know I'm repeating you here, but I didn't realise it run continuously from 1987 to 2025. I knew it was long running, you know, it'd literally run every week.
SPEAKER_00:It stopped on channel four in the noughties, but it went for a uh a long time on channel four, and then obviously it got sort of drowned out by like I say, nowadays you can just basically there's a there's a channel for almost every sport. I don't know if it's a kabadi channel, don't know how popular that would be to be honest. But but it used to be followed by a football gazetta on channel four as well, and then you switch ITV on and you get uh Saint and Grease, yeah. Um and then so obviously, like I say, went to channel left channel four and went to Sky in the Nauties, but I don't think it'll ever be forgotten by those kids who were uh like uh people our age when we were kids, who were desperate for sport, didn't have cable, didn't have Sky before the internet took off.
SPEAKER_01:And all these weird sports just not much to watch. So like even if you didn't love all your sort of world sports, that there was not much else on worth watching, really. So yeah, you'd find yourself sat watching I mean the the niche and unusual ones that that I found on there. I don't want to steal your thunder actually. Are you gonna are you gonna go through no no?
SPEAKER_00:I'm I'm gonna ask you actually, I'm gonna start the episode. My first thing I'm gonna ask you um is can you tell me the rules for Kibade? Because if people don't know about it, Kabade was one of the people there's a lot of people I uh might be in the 20s who don't really remember Trans World Sport. It basically shows you what three minutes of a of a particular sport, and it could be anything.
SPEAKER_01:Kabadi was ball fairly regular though, isn't it? Like cut round various different sports each week, and it'd sort of be like uh this week in in Sweden, the uh whatever it was, the the tree jumping tournament ended with the Swiss taking a world championship win. But yeah, but so Kabaddi was on regular and it was a load of in my mind sort of fairly short guys.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well they weren't naked, were they?
SPEAKER_01:They weren't naked, but I don't think they had lots of shots. They didn't have tops off.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, I think they were topless, maybe just a pair of pants. Shirts off.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, they were certainly wearing pants, maybe some small shorts. I think they were barefoot. I don't know where it originated. Like a Middle Eastern sort of sport, maybe. But so I think what happened is there's two teams. One team let's say there's five or six chaps in there, they're they're all holding hands, so they're linked together. The other team, I think they have to keep shouting kabadi. No, no, no, sorry. No, I think they're silent. Alright, and the other team as I'm explaining this, this this might be so far off. I thought I knew the rules, but I've got the rules according to the Daily Mail. So actually, the the single the the chap on his own who comes in, he has to keep shouting kabadi, kabadi, kabadi, kabadi, and he sort of gets close to the line of people. Did they say it like in that monotone voice? Yeah, I think so, yeah. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think he has to get closer and closer to this group of people, and then I think he has to dig one and then get back to his zone or a a base point or something, and they have to try and grab him before he gets back. Yeah, so I think that's the rules.
SPEAKER_00:So what Daily Mail have described it as here is this is the Daily Mail. So yeah, exactly. Yeah, Lennon's stretching straight back on.
SPEAKER_01:Um see the house Michael Schumacher died today, but didn't put anything in the headline to say that it was the it was the author and not the F1 driver.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that I I don't like admitting this, but I've got a death pool. I've got a death pool going on with a couple of friends, and he's on he's on my list. Uh and yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I thought, you know, it's been yeah, you don't see much of him anymore, do you? So I thought, mm, because we're only allowed one over eighty. So I thought I'll have Schumacher in. News came for I thought that's a belting start to the new year. And then obviously, you know, my my glory, uh, you know, I had to be a over 80, is he? No, no, I didn't allow one over eighty, it rests have to be under 80, so that's why I picked him. Alright. Um got Rosemary West on there, actually, this year, so fingers crossed for that one. But anyway, the rules of Kabade, uh, according to the Daily Mail is Kabaddy is a blend of rugby without the ball, tag for grown-ups with wrestling thrown in. It contains a mixture of tactical brain power and beastly brawn. The teams take it in turn, sending a raider into the other half. To win a point, the raider must take a breath, run into the uh opposing. I forgot that bit. Yeah, yeah, one breath. Yeah, tag one or more members of the opposite team and then run back to his own half before uh inhaling again. It's just a man. Who thought of that?
SPEAKER_01:I'll tell you what though, I'm I'm pretty spot on there. You've done really well seen for a long, like years and years. You think you'd be good at it? I think I'd be good at most sports, you know that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I do. I do I do know you think that's what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01:You've seen how far I can jump.
SPEAKER_00:I I ain't actually, I don't think. Have I I don't think I've seen that. Uh you might have seen how high I can jump, you might not see how far. You might have seen uh you've ripped your trousers once, didn't you jumping over a fence? Did I? Yeah, when you were younger. Not as a kid, I mean like sitcom sketch. Was that me or was that uh I'm sure you I'm sure you jumped over a I'm sure you jumped over like a fence and you're trying to show off and you ripped your trousers. I could be wrong. Maybe I've maybe I dreamed dreamting. I jumped over lots of fences. I don't remember ripping my trousers on what it's but it's certainly possible. It could be possible. So Trans World Sport obviously kabadi were just one of them, but it aired every single Saturday, as I said, during the 90s. And it'd show you, like I say, you'd have something fairly normal, like cycling, and you say in the cycling world today, uh the Icelandic uh rider was blah blah blah blah. And then it'd just like so swiftly go to something, and these are genuine sports that they've had on. Um windsurfing, but you don't get windsurfing now, do you? Uh Icelandic hill climbing, which I don't know what the difference is between hill climbing and Icelandic hill climbing. I presume it's in more treacherous conditions. Have you done any uh hill climbing? Yeah, I'm not bad actually. I Icelandic hill climbing, oh no. No, not done that. Stay away from that. Cheese rolling, um, which is something that I think everyone's heard of.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think that's just some village that do it every year, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:I don't think that's a sort of in the village of Romania, the cheese rolling. And there were no it was sort of the the voiceover were always sucks. There were a man and a woman who did it, and the voiceovers were always sort of quite kind of like the sort of modern AI, weren't it? It was sort of yeah, but it was like knowing as well, though. It was like done in a perfect you were a bit like uh Euro Trash. Do you know like with a uh and in Sweden, this man could not believe his look. It was just like yeah, they had wife throwing, sorry, wife throwing, wife carrying, wife throwing wife carrying, imagine wife throwing. The Scandinavian man throw his wife seven metres. Imagine that. Uh chess boxing, which is something that I don't I don't really thought that was like a novelty thing, but uh underwater hockey, which I don't know how that'd work, to be completely honest. Uh and another one of my favourites was Shin Kicking. The sh imagine this terrestrial TV, there's only four channels, you're going through it, BBC One will have had, I don't know what they'll have had at that time of the morning. Probably pre-cookery show, it's probably kids TV, actually. Going live on BBC One, BBC Two would have had some black and white film, RTV would have had, I don't know, I reckon they might have been showing the racing or something like that. Then channel four, you've got shin kicking, like cheese rolling. I mean mad, that they're your four options.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean that's one. I yeah, I did a little bit of Thai boxing. I think I've got quite sensitive shins. I can't think of anything worse than having a go at this.
SPEAKER_00:I've I've always said I once were walking down a uh a dark alley with with our friend Tom Jolly uh in Manchester, and there were two guys coming the other way who looked quite, you know. I I thought something might have kicked off. They're big guys, they were looking a bit menacing. And I my advice to Tom was I go kick him in the shins and let's run. But they just walked past us, they were just normal people, unfortunately. Well, fortunately, should I say, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01:They they turn out to be the hairy bikers.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, that's what they did. Actually, they did look a bit like that, to be honest. Um but yeah, I I think kicking someone in the shins.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, it's it's a horrible thing, yeah. In fact, that's why it stopped. I I I went to kick someone, and you weren't supposed to be doing knee blocks, and he'd turn his knee out, my shin hit his knee, full pelt, and they were awful. Yeah, it came up in the horrible, horrible. This is not for me.
SPEAKER_00:Another thing they had on there though was football, which is obviously not obscure, but what were good about it were football from South America, and they I love this about Trans World Sport, they'd never follow up the week after. So they'd show you like Argentinian football one week and say River played at top of the league in Argentina, then you wouldn't see them again for seven months. Do you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01:Because they just go to a normally see them like if a fight had kicked off and somebody had run and footed someone in stands or something.
SPEAKER_00:Well, the reason I brought it up is because I think this is the first time that I ever saw. Can you remember uh Chalavet, Joe Chalavet, the Paraguay goalkeeper? He used to take free kicks. Not the Scorpion Kick guy. No, no, no, no. He was Colombian, he might have been on it. That's Rennie Aguita. This guy, I remember this blowing my mind as a kid. So it used to say, like, and in Paraguay, uh it's show you a free kick, and I think that that's the goalkeeper. I might honestly on the on the socials, on the socials, uh we've got an Instagram page now, by the way. Um should probably change the ending. Yeah, you you're not on it. You never you're never given it. Who remembers now? No, who remembers? Instagram. I think I've shared Trans World Sports theme tune actually as my last post, so get on that. It's a really underrated theme tune that. Um but yeah, I'll I'll post some. He used to, I think he scored like something like 49 goals or something stupid like that. But I was just thinking, oh my word, these South Americans are absolutely mad. You're like bending free kicks in. What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01:As Ronaldo or Messi scored 49 free kicks. Let me have a look at how many free kicks Shilavere has scored. I'll probably I reckon it's about seven.
SPEAKER_00:You're gonna go seven, I'm gonna go withty nine.
SPEAKER_01:You said 49, yeah. Three kicks scored.
SPEAKER_00:I don't think like professional free kick takers scored 50. But there's a vid there's a video where it's 17 of it. He scored 67 goals, including eight in international matches. Wow, I I stand humbled and corrected. He scored four goals in World Cup qualifying. I do remember in World Cup oh '98 or 2002, he took a free kick from Edge area in that. Um think I is anyone that good.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, as a goalkeeper ever scored more than a couple of goals. Michael scored a couple, and he's not thinking, why is he in that? Put him up front. Yeah, putting on three kicks, he might be alright.
SPEAKER_00:But yeah, so I I always remember that the South.
SPEAKER_01:I've only thought if they scored 67, but from missed three kick attempts, they've conceded 244 goals.
SPEAKER_00:That'd be amazing, that, yeah. It was like the other end of the pit. Well, that's what uh Rennie Agita used to do. He was like the first sweeper keeper, weren't I? But all these like people you used to see, but obviously this is like 67. That's what wow. You live and learn. You live and learn. You live and learn. Um, but yeah, all these like madcap South Americans and stuff. And like I said, what I loved and hated at the same time about it, and this went for every sport in it. It's a in Scotland, the rugby union season was taking place, and then you think and they said these are top of the league. Then you obviously there's no internet, it's not gonna be in the paper. Kabadi's not gonna be in the papers, so you're not gonna know who's won. Do you know what I mean? You did you had no idea until it showed it again five months later.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you couldn't get invested in anything or anyone, could you? It was just a moment you had to enjoy. And I think I I don't know if you've sort of named your unusual ones there. I've got a couple more to add to it that being shown on there. Mongolian yak pollo was being shown on there. Uh camel jumping, and then you'd be good at that. Yeah, but you wait unless I have to jump with the camel, like if it's the combined jump of me and the camel, if I'm just sat on the camel, you're wasting my jump there.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I think you have to jump over camels, is that not what it's like?
SPEAKER_01:Oh right, I'd be up for that.
SPEAKER_00:And they might have to jump over camels. I don't know why it'd be a camel. Man's just got a hump on it, so maybe it's a anyway.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I don't know. And then Buskashi, which I've got no idea what that is. Probably should have looked that up. Buscashi. It's it's worryingly close to uh sort of sexual activity, but I'm I'm hoping it's not. I'm not gonna say that I don't and then the sexual world this week we're traditional sport in which horse-mounted players attempt to place a goat or a calf carcass in a goal Mongolian.
SPEAKER_00:This is genius about it. I mean nowadays these you just be memes like sort of oh look at this mad sport in Mongolia. This was a prime time, channel four, in the morning. Not we're not talking 6am in the morning.
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, I can imagine I know exactly what you mean. Like seen the Alan Partridge when he's doing the sort of police camera action thing, and he goes, Look at this idiot in America, yeah, in America, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But yeah, uh just incredible. But like I said, there weren't that many episodes to do, so we didn't we didn't want to like do a full episode on that, but another show that aired obscure stuff.
SPEAKER_01:So is that we're moving on from trans world sports?
SPEAKER_00:Unless you've got more on trans world sports.
SPEAKER_01:Well, the only thing that I've got to add to that so because it was such a sort of wide-ranging show and and captured loads of different sports, and because they didn't always go for the the the finals or the big events, they were just it seemingly was sort of random moments at times, but actually so trans world sport before they were famous featured Usain Bolt, Tiger Woods, and Namor. So they featured on Trans World Sport before they were world superstars.
SPEAKER_00:I would have noticed Namor, so I'd have been looking out for the uh free kick-taking goalkeepers, you know what I mean, instead. Oh, this is boring, this is just a good player.
SPEAKER_01:But I mean, Usain Bolt is sort of prime Trans World Sport because it would have been something like the the 14-year-old up and coming athlete posted a 9.9 time this week in the first time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, because they did used to have interviews as well and and things, and like to be honest, you with that sort of starved the football in those days, and I was just getting into football early 90s, and that's all I wanted to like watch and stuff. I did used to sit through the entire show, which were I don't know, a 45-minute show just to get to the football for two or three minutes, which is ridiculous now. You'd never do that nowadays. These kids today, they don't you can just hit the button and it's there. But you did use to shit shit, sit through shit through a show uh just to get to the football bit.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, same as anything. You just have to wait for a film on a Saturday night to watch Live and Let Die, whereas now you just you just go on Netflix or other streaming platforms are available.
SPEAKER_00:Are available, yeah. Um, another show, as I said, that aired obscure sports, or maybe games is a more apt uh description. Indoor League. This was before our times in the 70s, but I'm sure most people have seen you know what I mean by Indoor League, don't you?
SPEAKER_01:I've certainly seen some clips. I don't know if I've ever seen an episode of it, but yeah, it it was kind of mocked by a lot of the 90s sketch shows, weren't it? By the way, fantasy football used to play.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, fantasy football every single week, I think, for at least a series, you used to play like a clip from it. And it was Fred Truman and his catchphrase were like when they were um when the show had ended, were I'll city. It was used to it was like a proper broad yorkshire. Nah, I don't know, in pubna. And they had like bar skittles as a game. This is like again, this is like 10 o'clock at night uh on on ITV, not necessarily prime time, but there's not there's nothing else on. You've only got three channels at this point, and they're showing Skittles, table football, arm wrestling, which I think I'd love to watch arm wrestling. Um Ape Penner, shove eighth penne, which I think is just you know when you're shoving coins, is that right?
SPEAKER_01:Up a so I I think that would be what I would call table rugby. I might be wrong about that completely. And when you you you sort of skim a you skim a coin down a table. I never see people if I who remembers whatever happened to this. So you sit at opposite ends of a table in a pub, you skim a two page, sort of slide it along the table, and you try and land it half over the other end. And if you get it. They give you the coin back, they have to make like a H with their fingers, and you have to try and flick it with your thumbs between the goalposts to get a point.
SPEAKER_00:That's gotta be Chauve Penny, then is that the Havenny?
SPEAKER_01:I mean I I I don't know. I don't know if that's something different.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know. Maybe.
SPEAKER_00:Uh but the the interesting thing about this show, and the reason I wanted to bring it up, is it's the birthplace of television darts. So darts now, and to some degree Snooker, I think. That's another game that was shown on there, or billiards.
SPEAKER_01:Billiards actually used to play on there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. These were like just classed as pub games. The idea that darts would become on to this multi-million pound industry that it is today, is unthinkable. But that off the back of Indoor League, household names like Eric Bristow and Jockey Wilson had be, you know, they they became household names, and then Bullseye came on the back of that because darts were so popular in Indoor League, and it pushed darts onto the level that we see today, and I know you've been watching it over Christmas, haven't you?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, our group chat I'd say it's kind of been a bit more I know it's not your necessarily your sport, but but we've played darts. You're you're no, I like it.
SPEAKER_00:It's just that I don't I'm I'm I don't have uh Sky, so I can't watch it. I'm upstairs normally and it's downstairs, so but anyway, that's not the that's not the issue.
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, I'd say the chat kind of got more excited over the festive period of the darts than anything else. I think I got really invested. I think I think some of the guys on there are kind of regular fans anyway. Um but yeah, I I mean the the scale of it kind of blows your mind a little bit where it's got to, like you said, like the they're selling out the Ali Pali for for so many sessions, they're moving to the bigger hall next year because it's so successful. The prize money is now absolutely outrageous. I mean, I think for getting for getting to the quarterfinals was it 60,000 or that might even have been for the last 16. And then, yeah, it's just incredible, yeah. And and like you say, this but this what was brilliant about this that's been sort of parodied since was it it was filmed in a smoky pub where everyone was drinking and smoking.
SPEAKER_00:I think it were leased, weren't it?
SPEAKER_01:I think was it? I don't know, and it certainly had a very northern feel, didn't it?
SPEAKER_00:But then yeah, and it's just uh let's check out how they're getting on on dartboard. Yeah, you just walk around a pub and say, look, look at these or here we're at arm right in an alternative universe. Arm wrestling arm wrestler would be selling out the alley palace.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, come on. But I don't know if that's where a lot of the sort of like colloquialisms come from. Because like I always think it like, Nice, is I watching Arras? Has I seen Ares tonight? I don't know if that came from that or if that's a spoof of that or what, I don't know, but yeah. Have you seen the the famous you must have seen it? Uh Griffiths Jones uh yeah with a drink kid, brilliant, yeah. And I think he's he's got his eyes on a double and he's gone for he's gone for the double Jack Daniels, yeah. Oh, and I think uh the treble might be on he's gone, he's gone treble whiskey.
SPEAKER_00:It's a professional game, obviously now, Dart, and it always has been. We did we did an episode on Dart's players wives for um which is it's it's it's still got that sort of anyone can do it though, feel which is not not no other major sports really have.
SPEAKER_01:The the best in the world, he's not an athletic man, is he? I mean, don't get me wrong, I really he's he's he seems he's only young, he seems a really nice kid. Man United, my second team, which you're not allowed to have, but they are he's a big Man United fan, so I've seen him on the overlap. Yeah, yeah, he's you think about Mr.
SPEAKER_00:Luke Littler, by the way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, and he's brilliant. But what's funny is they had the so match room obviously sort of run the darts, the the tournament, and they had the I don't know if it's the CEO or they had someone on for match room. And the first thing's uh this on Talk Sport, by the way. Simon Jones said he's uh yeah, it's a great achievement. Uh I'd like to see him lose a little bit of weight. The match room guy says straight away, oh god, I knew he was gonna come in here, and Simon Jones was gonna criticize him for his appearance. But oh god, but I mean it it is true, he's a he's a multimillionaire, and it does have that feel of every man because this is not a good one. Yeah, yeah, and and you know, a lot of them they're obviously the the skill is in the accuracy, is in the precision, is in the dedication. They put so many hundreds of hours into it, but yeah, they're not they're not necessarily built like athletes, but but that I don't know, I don't want to be too critical of that because they don't need to be. That's not that's not what their game is, is it? Their game is just throwing a dart.
SPEAKER_00:Do you think there are any other obviously snooker were very similar. Snooker was on TV a little bit before, I think, uh Indoor League when that became massive. But is there any other indoor game that you think oh that could have been in a different world? I think that'd be amazing.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I thought it was quite dull, but they used to show a lot of this sort of crown green bowl, indoor bowls.
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna have actually I've got the crown green balls tournament. Used to always get two days of solid coverage on the BBC in the 80s. This is again this is what blows my mind with this. That might not like sound like a big deal. There's only four channels, and the BBC are having solid. Yeah, of bowls people throw old men like with crown throwing balls.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, what I'd say is like obviously I my my parents used to watch this sort of stuff, and I never really got I could see from a young age the bits of darts that I saw, the bits of snooker that I saw, I kind of got that. I mean, the one that I hated as a kid, absolutely hated, that then sort of got into and then stopped doing it because it was costing me a lot of money was the the horse racing. So so I kind of got that as a young kid as the kind of sorry, hated that as a young kid, then got it when I realised you could kind of gamble make money out of it, yeah. And then when I wasn't making any money out of it or any gambling in general, thought, no, that this is not good.
SPEAKER_00:You should have got into uh arm wrestling, mate. Oh, I did, I was good at I was good at that. You should have you should have put your money into arm wrestling. Another thing that I think you've got mixed up with as well before we we were talking a little bit before we started, um, is world of sport, which will be another show, and I think you've got that little bit mixed up with trans world sport, is that right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, thank you for hanging me out to dry. Yeah, it's fine. Absolutely fine, absolutely fine. No, I I my sort of thing when I started looking at it was grandstand against world of sport, so the ITV versus BBC. And then I've I've realised as we were talking beforehand, I made a fool out of myself, and you've you've exposed that.
SPEAKER_00:I just think it's important, it's it's important to be honest with your listeners, I think. Um but world of sports show wrestling, which were really, really niche at the time, and obviously that's massive now. Wrestling, yeah. I mean that that's one of the sort of standout memories for me, by the way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, oh really, yeah, because uh I found it slightly ludicrous even then, and it's a bit like we've got to be careful. I mean, but there are probably not many of them still around now, but do you remember when Lou Thoreux sort of criticized WWE and then they sort of bullied him? I I don't want any of the old school big guys coming after me, but yeah, it was farcical, wasn't it? Like they were just sort of big out-of-shape guys, like splashing into each other with the bellies and things like that.
SPEAKER_00:But the world of sport ones would be I mean, these are two people. I'm gonna say the names here. I bet you've heard of the names and you don't know anything else about them. Giant Astax and Kendo Nakasaka.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, I know both of them, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Household names from World of Sport Wrestling, which if you look back at it now, and again, I don't want to be critical of people. Shirley, someone oh Shirley not Shirley Temple, or Shirley Crown.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, is that is that giant ace? I don't know. One of the famous ones was called Shirley, wasn't it? Was it I don't know. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Or his name, the manager, the manager, uh manager, but that would huge, and that got people into wrestling, obviously, in the UK, people have come on from the match and stuff. Uh there's a brilliant album by a uh guy called Luke Haynes, um, and it's called Psychedelic Meditations of 70s and 80s, sport and IED or something. Real long title. And he does like a like a homage to it, and he like talks about in that about people who'd run on from the match to like have obviously finish at five o'clock just so they could like watch giant haystacks and Kendo Nakasaki being unveiled because he used to wear a mask, Kendo Nakasaki.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know if I'm if I'm mixing up with like even older school wrestling. Are we in the same era here?
SPEAKER_00:I this is 70s I'm talking about here, but it had gone through to the 80s. Shirley Crabtree is Big Daddy.
SPEAKER_01:That that's not giant haystacks. Is giant stacks and Nagasaki who you're on about?
SPEAKER_00:Uh Kendo Nagasaki. I love that as a name by the way, Kendo Nagasaki.
SPEAKER_01:Uh giant Astak is the same sort of British wrestling thing, or or are you all is giant ace.
SPEAKER_00:Oh no, they play. I'm just I've just typed it in British wrestling, Big Daddy, bloody hell, versus giant Astax, 81, Wembley Arena. Wow. Well, so they are the same sort of So they are the same, yeah. That's Shirley Crabtree, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Uh the yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're the same. For some reason, like I've got a picture of them both on screen now. I'm not I'm not even gonna say it's too ridiculous. I'm not even gonna say it. What? They look too similar. No, they don't. Obviously, I presume that's Astax is the bigger one. Yeah. I've made it sound weird now, so I've kind of got it. Yeah, you're gonna have to have to say I'm intrigued. So so the two big guys belly to belly, for some reason it's ridiculous. I'm watching, yeah. When I saw the image of them both together, I thought I don't even know the song. We want the same thing, we dream the same dreams. What was that? That's one part of some song. I don't because I was sort of saying that's the same thing. I've got no idea where where that would be. Dream the same dream, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well that's they didn't they didn't do that. I don't know, anyway. I don't think that's their song, is it? I think they sang that now. Uh I don't think the world of sport used to see, uh it's just a show, should I say, was um stunts and stuff. So Evil Can Evil made his name in the UK on World of Sport in 1975. They showed his Wembley Stadium bus jump attempts, and this was highly publicised by ITV. They even used an aircraft to trail uh banners in the sky. Um he failed.
SPEAKER_01:Are you still allowed to do this sort of stuff now?
SPEAKER_00:Would that would be how many society pay for that? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. So he managed to clear on this particular one, he managed to clear uh the last oh no, sorry, yeah, he did manage to clear the last bus, but he crash landed, breaking his hand, pelvis, and his uh vertebrae. I mean that's that's crazy, isn't it? Like that's yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That's just an event, a public event with everyone cheering. He's he's broke his pelvis.
SPEAKER_00:He's broke his pelvice, yeah. Well that's what he does, evil can evil, isn't it? Do you know the song? Have you heard the song High and Dry by Radio Ad? Don't Leave Me Ha. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't leave that's about evil can evil. Someone told me that a few years ago, and I thought that's obviously a joke, but it is. So it's like two jumps in a week, I bet you think that's pretty clever, don't you boy? It is about evil can evil. So it's don't leave me high and dry, like give me something to do, don't yeah. Don't leave me ha. I thought it was just a love song. So that's about evil can evil. Evil can evil. Interesting. But another thing as well, what I want to bring up, and I don't is this a sport? Monster trucks.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, unless it's just a demonstration of a monster truck, if if there's some kind of competition, if it's the fastest, most uh smaller cars crushed, biggest wheelie, I would say that they all make it a sport.
SPEAKER_00:I'd say if it's just uh look at this big monster monster truck, then no, that's not this big fucking 20 foot fucking monster truck over here, get it on the fucking big screen. Seeing this one, get up fucking Jamie.
SPEAKER_01:This this honestly, this fucking wheel, it's the size of the fucking universe. It's the biggest one.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's just it is class, it is classed as a sport, apparently.
SPEAKER_01:Go on and yeah, but like I say, but only if you compete, if there's any competition, because surely that is a definition of sport, isn't it? It yeah, competition competitive. So if you're up to the space, is it else?
SPEAKER_00:Not necessarily, because like if we were in compet in competition with the rest of his politics podcast, I mean we're where we are, aren't we? It's it's very one-sided, but we won't say we won't say who's winning. We won't say who's getting more more listens. But uh do you think that is that a competition? If I said look, I am I am a player of sport, does that make it don't make it a sport, does it? Me and you versus Campbell and what's he called, Stuart.
SPEAKER_01:Um but then what is the definition of sport then? If it's not just that it's competitive, does it need to be physical?
SPEAKER_00:This is what a lot of people say about snooker. People who don't like snooker and probably darts say it's a game, not a sport.
SPEAKER_01:I'm just gonna have a look now. What is the definition?
SPEAKER_00:I've just looked at an activity involving physical exertion and skill.
SPEAKER_01:Ah, so physical exertion, so not mental exertion then. So a quiz couldn't be classed as a sport.
SPEAKER_00:No, so quiz is not a sport, it's snooker a sport, it's darts a sport.
SPEAKER_01:Well they are physical actions, aren't they? Like where's the cut off? Is chess a sport? Or is it a game?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and then where does that end up? These are the dark, these are the deep questions that you get on this podcast. You know what no one's gonna be talking about this sort of stuff. I can tell you that now.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, um it's it's terrible podcasting, but I'm I'm thinking live, it what where's the cutoff then? Where is the cutoff? Physical exertion, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Well is the only thing to use, is it is it yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we could turn that into a sport or against rest is politics.
SPEAKER_01:Well, the fact that I have to move the mouse to sort of add in the feature and upload it, that's yeah, I think I've got quite a smooth action as I do it.
SPEAKER_00:As people can probably tell, we sometimes use Wikipedia live as well. That's that's not that don't do it on itself, do you know what I mean? That don't do it on its own. It's not AI, you know.
SPEAKER_01:I think we'd be quicker to Wikipedia than those two chaps. A bit older.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, easily. Easily, yeah, yeah. Anyway, Monster Trucks I think is most famous, certainly around these parts where we live, uh, for the events on 21st of April 1991. Does that mean anything to you, Liam, that day?
SPEAKER_01:No, I'm guessing Sheffield Arena.
SPEAKER_00:No, nearly. Sheffield Wednesday beat Manchester United 1-0 uh in the League Cup final. Uh, and Yorkshire TV, after straight after the game, instead of showing the celebrations, cut to 1986 TV special War of the Monster Trucks. Um yeah, and uh the decision has been cited over the years by both Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United fans as a prime example of why Yorkshire TV has biased towards West Yorkshire and Leeds in general. And we obviously people call it Look Leeds, don't they? Like Look North, they'll call it Luck Leeds, ah, Bloody Leeds again. Mamma always used to call it that. Ah, I'm going on about Bloody Leeds again.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, definitely. I did have a feel that it was uh a Leeds fan channel at one bit.
SPEAKER_00:Imagine that now, though. You're Harry Grayson, is he a Leeds fan? He's not he's sadly no longer with us. We're a Sheffield United fan, I think. Sorry, I'm just having uh sip of it. I think it's Raspberry Tango, I've never had it before, but yeah, he's no longer with us. Um but yeah, I'm pretty sure it was Sheffield United fan. Um but yeah, so that was probably the most I mean imagine that though, like you you've just won well the the third what is it, the only trophy they've won in 1880.
SPEAKER_01:We should probably because this is a new podcast, by the way. We should probably tell the Harry Gracian story, shouldn't we?
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's your story, mate. You you you I'll open the floor to you.
SPEAKER_01:So it's not that big of a thing, is it really? Well, you say that, but 2011, I think. It's a cold winter's night, I think it might be October. Um I got snowed off work, couldn't get couldn't get in, worked in Manchester, no way. The penines are not accessible. So I had a day off, found a couple of mates, and ended up at a I don't know, did you go to me, David? No, no. So we went, I had to walk for ages as well to get up to the Norton pub, so we went for a drink at Meadowhead, and we're having a bit of a snowball fight outside. All of a sudden, camera crew turns up, so I make it like a perfect snowball, launch it, probably from too close, being being honest. Um, and hit Harry Grayson full pelt on the side of his head. That's why they're no longer with us now. No, he didn't die this day, no. Um but yeah, it's uh well I don't I almost don't want to say it now because I didn't know he died, but he he he had a go at me really angrily, and I felt like a little schoolboy would be told off.
SPEAKER_00:In fairness to him, you threw a snowball at his head, he's not gonna turn around and say, nice one, mate, is he? Do you know what I mean? He's like he's got every right, he's got every single right to have a go at you for doing that. But yeah, you know, we don't condone throwing snowballs at people, especially yeah, but it relates channel, learn it. Yeah, anything else, I suppose. Maybe you should have said that's for monster trucks in 86 uh in 91. So you get showing monster trucks. Um another thing I wanted to bring up Channel 4. They were the first station in the UK to air the NFL in November 1982, and it launched it. Do you know what it was called the show?
SPEAKER_01:Uh it's either really obvious or something very clever. Uh the NFL show.
SPEAKER_00:American football. Just called American football, that's all they call it. Uh and highlights used to be showed at 5 30 on a Sunday. Right, this is obviously not a niche sport, American football, certainly not now, even in Britain. At the time, it was that niche that people had to the the show had to start every episode with a brief over uh overview of the rules, you know, like sort of talking basically have to say what is the differences between this and rugby because a lot of people like just thought it were rugby with helmets. Um and then did show some highlights after, and it were originally only supposed to be a six-week series, but it took off and became a massive hit for Channel 4 had only been started that year, and it stayed for the rest of the season, and we were given highlights from the previous Sunday every single week, a bit like uh Football Gazetta did. Um and this sparked some of our mates love it, don't they?
SPEAKER_01:I mean that oh yeah, yeah. Our friends in the US of A, that's that's kind of makes sense, but yeah, we have we have UK friends who who love this, and uh it's one of them things I kind of wish I got. Like I get basketball, I get ice hockey, I get the high tempo stuff, and and it's it's so sort of uh such an obvious thing to say, but the stop start nature of it makes it quite hard to watch. I think I get it in the stadium where they have a day out and having your you had dogs and your dogs, a couple of two-pitch of pine of beer or whatever you're drinking. But I yeah, I don't know, I just think to sit and watch it.
SPEAKER_00:It seems throwing out shrimp and the Barbie, mate. No, that's Australia. Um yeah, so them showing this spark significant uh British interest, and they they started airing the Super Bowl every year, which is obviously one of the biggest sporting events in the world. But on January 1983, the Super Bowl was first shown live on big television. Is it the biggest sporting event in the world in terms of viewers? No, it's well that's the World Cup final. Ah, fair play. Um I think it's but it's top ten though. Real top. I think Tour de France I think Tour de France is second, but anyway, the Washington Redskins, as they were then called, defeated the Miami Dolphins 27 to 17. And apparently everyone that this was a huge moment for the sport, and them just showing the Super Bowl, and now we see obviously from that, it's gone to the point today where the BBC obviously show it. You know, every every single Super Bowl is shown on the BBC. But this is a this were a niche sport in the 80s, you know. It's obviously really popular over here now. Oh, in the eighties, well, you couldn't it was every Super Bowl now shown on the BBC? Yeah, everyone the final. Yeah. I'm I'm saying, yeah. I don't know. I'm pretty sure the Super Bowl's shown on BBC every year. Uh I thought Sky had the uh the rights to America. BBC Super Bowl rights. Let me type in. We're getting sporting.
SPEAKER_01:No adverts on BBC. One of the big selling points is the ad breaks, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:No, it's Super Bowl 2025, yeah. On a BBC. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh no, they've lost them to ITV in 2023, but they did have them. The ITV show it now. I didn't realise that. All about the ads. All about the ads, but yeah, so but that obviously became uh do you remember the Channel 4 logo when they used to show American football? I'm guessing it's a American football helmet in a Channel 4. It's got it. It's got it, yeah. I don't remember it now. Yeah. Um Channel 4 you also used to show um Australian rules football and Gaelic football and sumo wrestling.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean Aussie rules and Gaelic football, yeah, but sumo wrestling, not Imagine, they love it, don't they? Like it's it's absolutely like a an institution, isn't it? Like the the top sumo wrestlers are sort of revered, like absolute icons of sport, aren't they? But yeah, I suppose it's it's hard to get some of these things if they're not sort of something you grew up watching. It's a bit like dad's army, isn't it? If you didn't grow up watching it, you don't get it.
SPEAKER_00:Sumo wrestling, dad's army. Very similar things. Another thing that always amazes me, and this is something that it is still on, but it started in 1978 and it's still shown today. And now I'm gonna I'll do the theme tune, Lim, you'll get it straight away. Yep, Ski Sunday, 1978 that were first shown, and it's still shown today. Do you know that theme tune was actually uh also using a religion show called The World Tomorrow? Imagine that. It doesn't try I can't imagine that working at all. Pop goes back is the song.
SPEAKER_01:Somebody's sort of like setting up like prayer marks or Bibles or something like sort of skimming around like really quick.
SPEAKER_00:The thing is, this is why it's a good thing, Jude, and obviously we've we were on before we were born, so we have grown up with it. Is I do skiing actions when I'm doing I don't know if you're doing the skiing actions are you doing it like now? No, I wish I was now I wasn't now just me I'm doing it now, I'm getting quite into it.
SPEAKER_01:It's sort of side to side with your body as well.
SPEAKER_00:Like no, I'm doing it like I'm doing it a bit like I'm in a wheelchair and you're like rolling my boots.
SPEAKER_01:As you're saying it, I'm I think it should be sort of shoulder side to side as you're doing it.
SPEAKER_00:But it's a bit too fast for the music. The music's too fast for the for the people say you were too fast for the music. I'm too brilliant now, because skiing that is a that is a really obscure sport that has become normal because how many people I know there's a lot of people go to ski resorts and stuff now, and people love it, but can I can I just shock you? Ebert, hit me.
SPEAKER_01:I despise watching skiing on TV. What? Oh, controversial. Woohoo! My mum and dad used to watch it a lot. It's the most ridiculous. You should put the theme tune on, actually, as you're talking in the background.
SPEAKER_00:Sorry, carry on.
SPEAKER_01:Effectively, you're watching unless like every say one in every 20 or 25 runs down the slope, somebody slides out and crashes. You want to crash, don't you, rather than a tomate goes. Effectively, you're watching the same thing over and over, and they'll say, Oh, he's two hundredths quicker there, oh he's point two seven of a second slower there. So it's the same thing over and over and over. And by the end of it, like they're all divided by one second. And and like in a running race, at least you can sort of see who's in front, who's behind, who's catching up. In this, it doesn't matter because you're just watching the same thing over and over, and then at the end, I'll just say, uh, one by point zero seven of a second.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm a bit like that with with diving. I like diving at the Olympics. I don't really know what's a good dive and what's a bad dive. Sometimes they'll do a dive and I'll think, oh, that's good. And they go, Oh, we'll not be happy with that. I suspect, very much like me, that if there's not much of a splash, you think, yeah, good dives are on. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, but sometimes I do see that and they'll say, Oh, and I think oh, but you get caught up in it. It's a bit like when curling, you know, when Britain won, UK won curling it, and everyone became a curling expert. Get your broom out, broom. Not sweeping fast enough, they're not sweeping it. What's she doing? Yeah, yeah, ridiculous.
SPEAKER_01:I think like I mean, so touring cars are quite light because that was almost like just cars that you you on your street driving around in a racetrack. But World Rally Championships, another one very similar to skiing. That don't get me wrong, I I'm not doubting the skill levels, these are elite performers, but it it doesn't matter whether we've passed that tree half a second quicker than the last guy. It doesn't matter. I I don't care. But what was great on the game, which I don't even know if they now show on TV, I don't know, they certainly should do, and if if they haven't, I recommend they do if they still show it. So you could turn on Ghost Car, and what that'd be is that'd show you the leader relative to you. So if it was slightly in front of you, you'd sort of see this transparent car just in front, so you could see where you were relative to the quickest.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Now, now that's great. So if you want to show me the skier alongside a transparent version of the fastest one so far, I'm all on board with that because I can see who's in front. Oh god, he made up a bit of time there. Oh, he was he was slower on that, Ben. But if you're just gonna show me the same thing over and over again for an hour, I'm not interested. Is robot wars a sport? Well, it's back to the thing, innit? Is the control of the joysticks classed as a physical activity?
SPEAKER_00:That's a good point, yeah, because then yeah. Interesting. Like I say, smash his like in the comments. I don't know if you've got any more, man. I've got one more, Liam, that I want to talk about, and it's something we talked about within a sport or a show. Uh well, well, this is a show and a sport.
SPEAKER_01:Um, I mean the other things that like I don't know, they're not obscure sports, they're major sports, but the things that I used to like seeing are bits of sort of squash, badminton, valley, volleyball, volleyball. Valleyball. I've got that bit of that valley ball. Has anybody seen a fucking valley ball? Um but yeah, no, I I I quite like the sort of fast racket sports in particular. Table tennis, I think, is a very good watch. Um fast. Yeah, I mean, so I've seen that there's sailing. I almost hit myself in the face.
SPEAKER_00:I almost hit myself in the face playing table tennis. Um I would like I just went and it just missed completely proper light really hard as well. Well, it's never been mentioned, has it, but you do suffer from dyspraxia. I can't believe you brought it up, to be completely honest. That's uh everything I've been through. But yeah, but yeah, I do suffer from dyspraxia. But no, and also like I went to hit the ball and my my hand was so far back, I smashed myself. I like it went down like a proper injury. Something that we have.
SPEAKER_01:I think of you like that little monkey in Simpsons uh prey for Hagenson.
SPEAKER_00:He's already dead, um, but yeah, uh, what's strong this man that we touched on on uh what we did an episode on, should I say? On that's a crazy sport to have on TV.
SPEAKER_01:So that that's become an entity in its own right now, and probably rightly so actually. I think it's fantastic TV, but yeah. Because the the actual final is a once a year thing, I still sort of see that as a but did they have ongoing through the year then, like strongman events?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, of course, yeah. And I think that were the the the finale, weren't it? Because obviously you have to have qualifiers and stuff like that. Every New Year's Day, um well strongest man.
SPEAKER_01:Was it on this year?
SPEAKER_00:I don't know, because no one watches TV anymore, do they? This is the thing. This is the thing about.
SPEAKER_01:I went to Castleton New Year's Day, so I I wasn't watching.
SPEAKER_00:I went to work. You went to Cheff United, didn't you? I didn't go because I was working, so I didn't I didn't I didn't make it. But um yeah, so I think like I'm just looking here by the way, robot athletes compete at the world world humanoid games. That's not very Yeah, not even that.
SPEAKER_01:But that's not But that's like say just driving on the motor is a sport, then it like which car's going quicker than the others.
SPEAKER_00:No, because at least you're controlling it.
SPEAKER_01:No, it's at least a person, yeah, making that decision, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But anyway, obscure sports, Liam. If you've got any more let me know. Uh otherwise I'm happy to say that we have cons conclusively gone through every single sport that was ever show shown. Tiddlywink's a sport. They didn't show a tiddlywink. Maybe they did an indoor league, actually. Is that a sport though? I get caught up on this this bit for a long time. I'm Scotch. Is that a sport? Uh that's another episode. Forget that. We'll we'll do childhood games at some point.
SPEAKER_01:Top scotch. Would that be a sport? I mean if it were timed, maybe.
SPEAKER_00:Right, let's end it earlier. Let's we've ended, we've started the new year with a bang with a massive bang. A massive I mean, if podcasting is classed as a sport, we've got we've gone early, haven't we? That's an early spring. Will anyone else be able to do a flood as good as that one? Highly doubt it. So thank you for that, Liam, and I will see you next time. Yeah. Yep. Thank you for listening to Who Remembers. If you want to get in touch with us, you can find us at Whorememberspod at outlook.com. If you are a right wing fascist, you can find us on Twitter at Who Remembers Pod. Or if you're a woke note, you can find us on Blue Sky at WhoRemembers Pod. Once again, thank you for listening, and we'll see you next time for more remembering.