Poll: Toughest Sport

[Dwarfman]

Aussie rules - or if you're like me and from Queensland, 'Aerial Ping-pong' - Is one of the most physically demanding sports I've seen or played.

Next on the list would be Football - soccer - not so much for it's physicality more so the level of skill and stamina required to play such a fast game.

Third place? Ice Hockey. But those guys a freakin' psycos. If I didn't place them in the top three they'd come lookin' for me!

Fourth place. Rugby League/Union. Not as fast paced as the first three but both of these sports are tough, rough and brutal. Though lacking the overall tactics and finesse of American Football these guys do everything that their American counterparts do without armour or pauses between plays.

Fifth place. Cricket. More importantly test cricket. I've played school level test cricket. I've also been carted off the field after recieving sun stroke playing test cricket. Who ever came up with the phrase ' Only Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the Midday Sun' had test cricket on mind. Who in their right mind decided that it would be a great idea to play a sport that lasts five days out in the open under a blazing sun?

 

[The_Chief]

Wrestling. The real kind, not the wussy TV kind.

you. i love you.

I agree with this man wholeheartedly. wrestling is without a doubt the most physically demanding sport. maybe ice hockey or AFL or any other sport are the most challenging on your body, but wrestling is the most demanding. play three periods of hockey, win, celebrate. lose, whatever. go home and eat. my teammate is sucked to the bone and yet he still is the toughest kid i've ever known or ever will know, even being 100 pounds for 5 months out of the year. he had to cut 3 pounds off his 101 pound body, at 5'6, to make weight on a heavy scale. i've seen him go 4 days without eating anything but celery, and still go out there and pin top kids in the state. i'd like to see any other athlete go into a college or tough highschool room and practice like we do. toughest six minutes of your life at any level. its also challenging. no body can go in and muscle their way to the top. you need to be a step ahead of your opponent at any time. its like extreme chess in a way.

 

[Udyrfrykte]

I'd have to go for professional fighting. Boxing especially or UFC. The training and risk of injury is huge. Insofar as team sport is concerned it would be Aussie Rules. It's like American football minus the gear and safety rules.

Not trying to sound like a douche, but please don't ever call the sport "UFC" again. It's MMA.
It's kinda like saying NFL is the toughest sport. UFC is just the biggest organization.
Just trying to spread the knowledge.

It's a common joke among fans and fighters to say "they train UFC" because wannabe toughguys brag about "training UFC" (... and wear TapOut clothing), when they clearly know nothing about the sport.

OT: I'd say Hockey, it seems really badass. Well, afaik it nearly even violates the rules set by OP since they do beat eachother up on occassion, and some players are encouraged to start fights.
By all means, enlighten me on this.

 

[necronmm]

Definitely hockey. Especially the players that constantly block shots, ouch!

 

[bz316]

Toughest sport is probably a three-way tie between wrestling (real not that "professional" bullshit) boxing and MMA. All three are incredibly physically demanding, requiring not only considerable training in the learning of the fighting techniques but also considerable physical conditioning (weight-lifting, running, and so forth) as well as learning to endure a substantial amount of physical pain and keep fighting.

 

[Audemas]

My vote goes to hockey because of this sole reason:
Go Flyers.

 

[subfield]

Football man... That's the only sport I know where you have to be a philosopher to play it properly.

 

[utopaline]

hockey for sure, but yeah rugby is insane too, but with hockey you have all the dangers of rugby PLUS sticks, razor sharp skates, no out of bounds, checking, going really fast. It's just all sport dangers and speed to boot.

Oh, and GO PENS!!!!!

utopaline

 

[Volkov]

"Toughest" is an absolutely meaningless term, and the answer to the OP entirely depends on the definition of "toughest".

The way I define it - iron man triathlon. You *can* play all of the above sports and be completely out of shape - but you cannot come close to even finishing an iron man triathlon without being in peak physical condition. However, it is worth noting that "peak physical condition" is also an entirely ambiguous term. American football players are far stronger than, say, soccer players, soccer players have much better stamina and agility; tennis players are a bit of both, so are hockey. In other words, again, this is a semantic argument, and not an athletic one.

 

[smithy_2045]

Australian Rules Football. Every single one of the 44 players in the match needs to be able to run for large portions of the match which has roughly 2 hours of playing time with 5-20-5 minute breaks at quarter time, half time and 3 quarter time respectively. On top of that, they all need the physical strength to win the contested ball in the air and on the ground, and then need the ball skills to then pass the ball to a teammate. The sheer diversity in skills required to be a good Aussie Rules player is phenomenal, and every player has to be able to perform them to stay at the top level.

 

[Jenkins]

darts,


it has to be darts.

 

[Tiger Sora]

I say hockey, most defiantly.

This made me google search "Toughest sport" and I got a graph from ESPN. Hockey is the 2nd hardest sport after boxing

 

[StBishop]

So, as an American (though really, a few of my more international friends have noticed it to), its getting rather tiring to see the argument over whether Rugby or (American) Football is tougher. So I figured I'd ask (hey, its the Super Bowl, I'm in a sporting mood), what the toughest Sport is.

Disclaimer, did not include things like boxing or mixed martial arts because the entire point of that is beating the hell out of the other guy. This is talking purely about sports where the point is NOT to purposely injure the other person.

I think its Hockey. Seriously, I do. You're skating around at break neck speeds, on a single, VERY thin blade (per foot), and you're wielding a stick. Players get concussions that put them out for entire season, you play more rapidly, and you can get hit without even having the puck. Men can get slammed in the face with a puck, have to have an entire facial reconstruction, and get torn open just through a bare knuckle hockey fight or with the stick.

To add a personal touch to it, I know I've been injured and have injured people. One story I can tell where both instances involved the same guy. I was ijured when our team was injured, and the defenseman on the other team got sick of it and just used his stick like a sword and just cleaved into my side. it cracked a rib, bruised three more and cut into me, needing me to have ten stitches. So after I healed and went back out the same thing happened, where my team was winning and the same kid tried to do the same thing. So instead I stopped him and drove my stick into his helmet, trying ot knock him back down with a concussion and accidentally caught him beneath his helmet and caused some brain damage.

Also, kinda like a side note, my Captcha said Hanson weasy. Just thought that was kinda funny.

EDIT:
A second question was posed that I find kinda interesting. What Sport has the toughest players/competitors/whatever you'd like to call them?

I'd have to say Fencers. Why? Cause I've had personal experience in that, but before I go there, I'll say this. Ever seen what a Fencer sees? its a Sword. Pointed at you. With the intent to hit you with it. And can kill you. I think the fact alone none of them shit themsleves is impressive on its own.

As to my personal experience, you should try fencing without the suits or padded equipment, without a tipped rapier. I have. Its not fun, and the scar I have on my leg where my friend pretty much drove his rapier through it is proof enough (especially since he almost neutered me).

Might want to change the poll options to make it opvious that you're talking about Ice Hockey, as over here (Australia) if someone says Hockey they mean Field Hockey.

 

[jumb]

If you said Ice Hockey, I would've picked that. Otherwise, it'd have to be Rugby, despite which flavour.

 

[DenSomKastade]

Curling, very few are good at it...

 

[ApeShapeDeity]

I'm gonna say rugby over gridiron. You've gotta love a game where you have to gaffa tape your ears to your head to keep them.

For sheer pysical and technical difficulty and the unforgiving nature of it, unassisted solo climbing. This is great fun but your adrenaline glands get as much of a work out as anything. You REALLY don't want to miss a hand hold!

One of my buddies took a fall, lucky for him it was only about 6 metres (approx. 18+ feet). Tore him up pretty good, but he managed to walk/crawl away.

Price tag=
1 broken nose
3 broken ribs
1 dislocated shoulder
1 sprained hip
18 stitches
1 concussion
Uncounted cuts/abrasions.

LOL, just occured to me, probably one of the few times that hitting rocks while you fall is a good thing, slows you down.

 

[Biosophilogical]

AFL!!! Okay, it isn't the toughest by a long shot (but I think Rugby should be removed, because it is effectively a combination of line-dancing and tackling, so the entire purpose is being physical rough with the opposition), but I like the sport and I've never played/watched Hockey so I don't feel qualified to comment.

 

[Canid117]

So, as an American (though really, a few of my more international friends have noticed it to), its getting rather tiring to see the argument over whether Rugby or (American) Football is tougher.

Cant Rugby and Football fans unite over a common lack of respect for Soccer instead of going at each others throats?

 

[Inmate13]

While there is certainly a great deal of hockey cred to this thread, my vote still has to go to Rugby, if only because of one man: Wayne Shelford

His story is told in rugby circles worldwide, yet for the sake of our collective attention span, here is the condensed version lifted straight from The Wiki itself (we cool Jimmy? I gave you 10 bucks this year):

"Shelford made his Test debut for the All Blacks later that year against France in a 19?7 victory in Toulouse, and then was a notable victim of the infamous "Battle of Nantes" in the second Test. Roughly 20 minutes into the match, he was caught at the bottom of a rather aggressive ruck, and an errant French boot found its way into Shelford's groin, somehow ripping his scrotum and leaving one testicle hanging free. He also lost four teeth in the process. Incredibly, after discovering the injury to his scrotum, he calmly asked the physio to stitch up the tear and returned to the field"

Yes, rather than screaming in mind-bending agony at the sight of his now FULLY exposed "lil wayne," this man of mans simply tucked the ol' boy back inside and kept right on playing.

 

[Inmate13]

Wow, I seriously fail at posting tonight