Like football? Love MMA? Then the crazy sport of ‘Calcio Storico’ is for you.
If you think the Beautiful Game is a bit too pretty, then check out this 27-a-side brawl with a ball.
‘Historical Football’, as it’s rather loosely called, is played once a year in the town square in Florence, Italy.
The players are stripped to the waist with their knuckles taped up and the goal is to get the ball down the other end and score.
Oh yes, and punching, kicking and wrestling your rivals is perfectly within the rules.
King Henry III of France, who swung by to take in a game back in 1574, said it was “too small to be a war and too cruel to be a game.”
Players are often stretchered off or knocked-out cold during the rather brutal 50 minute matches.
Nobody tell Roy Keane, he’ll be lacing his boots back up and getting the first flight over to Florence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6zPa2Fr47I
