The Most Unpopular Sports in Egypt
The sports scene in Egypt revolves mainly about football and its craze which is known to some as soccer! But this is mainly because of the benefits everyone gets behind its popularity and the jobs offered in that specific sport’s field. Football has been a popular sport since anyone can ever remember!
Football still left some room for other sports to take a place in the spotlight like; basketball, handball, volleyball, squash, tennis, swimming, gymnastics…etc. Having said that, some sports that we truly love didn’t make the cut. Those unpopular sports ended up either offered as a class or hobby to be practiced by amateurs, not competitive professionals.
For some of us who either grew abroad or in Egypt have fallen in love with some sports that seemed to not fit the Egyptian Sports Culture one way or another!
Here are the TOP 12 UNPOPULAR SPORTS in Egypt that deserve some recognition, to say the least!
1. Polo
Although Egypt has some of the finest horses, Polo still didn’t really impress the big crowds in Egypt. Back in the day, Polo matches were quite popular especially in prestigious clubs like Gezira Sporting Club and Alexandria Sporting Club. We hope one day, the word “Polo” in Egypt wouldn’t be only a reference to a good looking t-shirt!
2.Horse Racing
Leather boots and weird looking pants were not a problem for professional jockeys. If you have a thing for black and white Arabic movies, you’ll notice the scene where everyone bet on their horse to win! Sadly because of so much controversy around the gambling side of the game, it was banned once and for all! But we really love to see those races, WE MISS THAT THRILL!
3.Surfing
With Egypt’s Beautiful Meditteranean and Red Seas, Surfing still was introduced very late to the Egyptian Water Sports Scene! It was long awaited especially with those Quicksilver ads that made some of us want to surf and do nothing else in life! So many camps around the nation have been adopting the sport to give it the recognition it deserves and we’re rooting for them!!
4.Synchronized Swimming
Dancing and Swimming, for all the musical mermaids out there, this is an absolute charm! We usually watch this sport in the Olympics and just admire from a distance quite literally through a TV screen! Only recently we made it to Vogue’s magazine after the Egyptian Olympic Team ranked 7th back in Rio 2016. If that’s not reason enough to grow the sport further, we don’t know what is!
5.Water Polo
This sport is a joy for the men who played it and for the ladies who cheered them on! Combining Water, Team Work, and a Ball, Water Polo seems to be only for the ones who have strong legs and sturdy core. BUT WE LOVE IT!
6.Sailing
Whether you’re doing it as a mean of survival, transportation or fun, Sailing is a sport worth recruiting for! Learned by Egyptians since the beginning of time especially fishermen and sailors. A culture that’s worth reviving especially competitively as it runs in our Egyptian blood, we’re simply born good sailors so why not COMPETE WORLDWIDE!
7.Rowing
Comes in second to Sailing but we definitely handle our waters well! A sport that takes a team and a team leader to move forward and win the race! It has always been around but lately, we started to see people over the social media practicing in the Nile river. We say THIS IS A GOOD SIGN to ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT!
8. Ultimate Frisbee
The newest on the Egyptian Sports Scene, Frisbee is no longer a sport you play randomly on the beach with your friends or play catch with your dog. It happens to be quite a strategic team play, that takes precision and fly high jumps! We haven’t played it yet but it’s so much fun to watch!
9.Rugby
Familiar with the “Haka” ceremonial dance?! Yes! Then you definitely witnessed All Blacks dance it before every rugby match they played! It reflects how tribal it is to play a sport like Rugby which is built around lifting your teammates to catch the ball, protecting them as they run and tackling others if they are about to get attacked! This bond has already made a lot of Egyptians fall in love with the sport!
10.American Football
Similar to Rugby, maybe.. but NO! American Football has different rules and an END ZONE everyone is trying to reach! With so much gear required to play this sport, it has only been introduced on College Campuses like the AUC and GUC! For the crowd who’s quite influenced by the American culture, this sport has quite occupied a big chunk of their hearts and lives!
11.Ice Hockey
A shocker to most of us, YES WE HAVE ICE HOCKEY IN EGYPT! NO ICE…NO PROBLEM! Us Egyptians if we love something so much, we find a way to make it happen, especially with the introduction of ice skating sites in several malls! SKATE AWAY BOYS ..SKATE AWAY…
12.Croquet
No, this is not an activity for us to practice when we grow older… it’s a competitive sport! Egypt’s impression of this sport is quite funny, as you only see your grandparents playing it in the country club. We bet you think to yourself “This is an activity, not an actual sport!” Let’s agree it takes more mental activity than physical but still. Give a try and we know you’ll change your mind!
We really believe some of the Unpopular Sports we mentioned deserve a bigger place under the spotlight in the Egyptian Sports Scene, but it takes a big crowd to make something popular in Egypt! So if you love or practice any of them, share with us your opinion and your thoughts on how to turn them to Popular Sports for everyone to enjoy! #SportsInEgypt