Wild World of Sport

Well, here we are again at everyone's favourite part of the show... the rankings. And what better place to do it than our favourite place in the universe - To All My Friends at Cook Shops. 21 stories have been told, but only one can be crowned the wildest story from the world of sport (in season 2). Executive Producer Zoe's W.I.L.D.N.E.S.S ranking metric is making another appearance to help us sci...

Harry Potter is one of the biggest franchise's in history. It's spanned multiple movie franchises, television shows, videogames, books, and - most importantly - a sport. Quidditch is fictional sport played on broom sticks and features multiple magical items. These magical items, and the legal team at Warner Brothers, prevent Quidditch from being played by us muggles... But that doesn't mean we can...

In the lead up to the 1996 Cricket World Cup, the Emirates Cricket Board decided they wanted to compete on the world stage. The country had been competed for a chance to make the world cup for years, but decided now was the time to strike. But instead of building from grassroots, and working to produce home grown talent, they decided to - essentially - hire mercenaries to play. But the real story...

The Men's FIFA World Cup is undoubtedly the biggest sporting event in the world. Happening every four years, the beautiful game brings the globe together to compete for sports greatest prize. But the early days of this tournament are some of the wildest in the history of sport. Hosted in Uruguay, the first edition of the World Cup had it all; monarchs selecting teams, players banned for owning caf...

In 2014, baseball witnessed one of it's most heart warming stories when Little League team Jackie Robinson West became the first all black team to win the World Series The kids, aged between 11 and 13, were treated as heroes - they met Barack Obama, attended the MLB World Series, and featured on cereal boxes - and remained humble and down to earth children. However, all of their hard-work and good...

Sport is inescapable, even deep in the front lines of immovable trench warfare in World War I. Perhaps the most famous football match of all time is also one we don't know much about. But what we do know is that across parts of Europe, on Christmas Day in 1914, groups of soldiers met in no mans land and began playing football games. However, much more is unknown, made up, or lost to time... until...

There is a select group of people who, without any proof, believe that they are better at sport than they actually are. But most of those people don't go as far as todays hero, Maurice Flitcroft. Maurice had the grand idea one day in his mid 40s that he should become a professional golfer, despite never playing the sport before. So without ever playing a round, he entered the British Open, and inf...

To the untrained, Free Diving is a dangerous and potentially life threatening extreme sport, but to the trained, it is a dangerous and potentially life threatening extreme sport. A form of underwater diving, free diving relies entirely on holding your breath rather than using breathing apparatuses like scuba gear. For Russian Natalia Molchanova, free diving wasn't just a sport, it was a way of lif...

Dear faithful listener, Unfortunately, the Wild World of Sport team have had a massive few weeks with work, international travel, and just life in general. We love bringing you a new wild story every week... but this is not that week. But to make up for it, and for any new listeners who haven't yet combed through our older episodes (shame), we're bringing you one of our all time favourites from se...

World War II was a dangerous and difficult period of time in Europe, and a time where most professional sports were banned. This included Ukraine, which was occupied by Nazi Germany. However, a group of professional player from Dynamo Kiev and Lokomotiv Kiev formed a team while working at Bread Factory 1. The team, FC Start, gained attention from the Nazis, who set up matches against the team, the...

Once upon a time, there was a girl from a little town on the edge of Canberra called Queanbeyan. Her name was Heather, and she was great at sport. One day, Heather went to the big city and found a new sport and immediately became the best in the world, and went 19 years without loosing a match. She then started another sport, and another sport, and became the best at those too. But to this day, mo...

Pigeons are thought of pests, annoyances, and just generally dirty creatures. The affectionate name 'Rat with Wings' may hold true today, but pigeons were once our way of communication, war heroes, and companions. But while that may have gone by the wayside, there is still a collection of people that care for and respect the noble creature, and race them against each other. The racing of pigeons c...

There are a few things football fans all take joy in; Spurs getting relegated, Arsenal bottling the league (again0, and Italy not qualifying for the world cup. While the first two are easily explained through the pure 'bottleing' of the North London clubs, but there isn't an explanation to why four time World Champions, and Euro 2020 winners, can't qualify... until today. Carlin has done the resea...

Animals and sport have a difficult and bloody past. But there is one humble creature that defies the barbaric and brutal history of bloodsports to lift himself to cult hero status in the animal kingdom without a devastating death. That’s Jocko Flocko. Jocko is first and foremost the ONLY copilot to ever compete in NASCAR, and even wilder he’s the only one to ever win a race, but the wildest part i...

Love is a powerful thing. It can lift us up, send us crashing down, and make us do things we never thought were possible. The best example of this is brought to us by Dick Hoyt and his son Rick, who had spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, which meant he had no control over his muscles from the neck down and was non-verbal. But that didn't stop Rick from doing what he loved best - running. Togethe...

One day you're on top of the world (or more accurately a horse) living out your dreams after once in a lifetime opportunity - literally. Then, the next moment your dead.... Hard to believe, but that was reality for Frank Hayes, the world record holder for the one person to win a horse race posthumously. Frank's story is definitely wild, one that involves extreme weight loss, a heart attack, and po...

It’s an undeniable fact of life that farts are funny. But when they enter the competitive world of darts… it raises a stink. Fart-Gate has gone down in history as one of the wildest moments to ever happen in professional darts. From Gary Anderson telling a reporter to stick his finger up his arse in a thick Scottish accent, to the potential renaming of the competition to ‘the Grand Slam of Farts’,...

There have been many men that have laid claim as 'The Worlds Strongest Man', but none have been as impressive as former Olympic Weightlifter, winner of the inaugural 2002 Arnold Strongman Classic, and WWE World Champion Mark Henry. Depending if you believe us - that Mark Henry was actually two little people standing on each other shoulders - or the real story, Mark Henry is one of the wildest comp...

Rugby League is one of Australia's most popular sports, but after its debut season in 1908, the sport was financially on it's knees. The sport had one hope of survival... stealing the nations greatest players to improve the quality of its sport. And thats exactly what they did when they poached almost the entire Wallabies squad during an exhibition series between the Kangaroos and Wallabies. But s...

Good morrow fine listener, and welcome to the first installment of the Royal Wild World of Sport - the only podcast with the Royal Seal of Approval (approval pending). The 2026 Winter Olympics have captured our attention and our hearts over the past few weeks, and has lead us on a journey into our new favourite sport- Curling, thanks in no small part to the now infamous exchange between the Canadi...

The NHL, and ice hockey in general, is synonymous around the world with fighting. Sure, everyone loves to see goals, but nothing excites a crowd as much as two players going punch for punch in the middle of the ice - and no one was better at it than legendary Detroit Redwings enforcer Bob Probert. Bob was a wild character, whose battles extended off the ice and into rehab, where he battled drug an...

The 1988 Winter Olympics featured one of sports greatest ever underdog stories - the infamous Jamaican bobsled team. The magic of the tropical country competing at the winter games for the first time captured the world ’ s attention thanks in no small part to the Disney movie Cool Runnings . However, the movie is almost 100% false, with the films director noting that only “1% of the film is true”...

Australia has a famous saying for when someone has unlikely or unusual success - doing a Bradbury. The term comes from Steven Bradbury who became the first Australian to win a Winter Olympic Gold Medal when the four other racers ahead of him slipped over on the final lap, allowing him to glide over the line and into the history books. But Stevens story is so much more than some final turn luck, on...

After a wild, wacky, and weird first season, James, Ben, and Carlin sit down to once and for all crown the wildest story with an official re-rank to end season one. Thanks to executive producer Zoe, the boys have a state of the art, highly scientific system at their disposal to accurately and officially rank all 21 stories told in 2025 - The W.I.L.D.N.E.S.S Scale (Patent pending). So sit back, cra...

When Wilma Rudolph was born premature and underweight, her family knew she would have a tough life ahead of her. Then, after contracting measles, pneumonia, Scarlett fever, and paralytic polio, doctors told her mother that she would likely never walk again. But she regained the ability to walk and only a few years later, Wilma was competing at the 1956 Olympics in three sprinting events. Four year...