In the final of our series on Table Tennis, we look at the use of glue to cheat in table tennis. When Hungarian player Tibor Klampár discovered volatile glues gave the rubber on bats 30 per cent more spin and speed, it led to an arms race for the most toxic glues. Titus O'Reily and Mick Molloy look at the dangerous trick that led to players passing out and police raiding table tennis shops. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the early 1970s, with China and the United States locked in a Cold War struggle, it took Ping Pong to save the world. With diplomatic ties severed between Richard Nixon and Chairman Mao, the US Table Tennis team were sent to China to mend relations. Things got off to a rough start when one member of the US team converted to Communism and two others played an imaginary game of table tennis in the street, almost starting a riot. Titus O’Reily and Mick Molloy examine the rise of Table Tennis in China and how the US Table Tennis Championships were once kicked out of a venue by El Mongol, a not-so-famous wrestler. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The sport of table tennis or ping pong, or as it was once known, Whiff Waff, has arguably had a more significant impact on world history than any other sport. In this episode, we look at the life of Ivor Montagu, the man who built table tennis into an international sport while also making films with Alfred Hitchcock, hanging out with Charlie Chaplin and spying for the Soviets during the War. Mick Molloy and Titus O'Reily examine a sport that connects Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Chairman Mao, King Charles, HG Wells, George Bernard Shaw and General Douglas MacArthur. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

By the time Jimmy White was 13, he was skipping school and travelling around England in a black cab to play snooker and hustle adults out of their money. Turning professional, Jimmy quickly became the most beloved snooker player in the world while living a lifestyle that involved month-long benders with Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy, UB40, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards. Titus O'Reily and Mick Molloy examine the career of one of the greatest snooker players of all time, a man who lost six World Championship Finals and once took his dead brother on a pub crawl. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Completing our look at the early days of boxing, we pick up where the sport moves from having no rules whatsoever to having at least three of them. It's the nanny state gone mad. We meet the man who lends his name to these new rules, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry, whose main claim to fame, apart from his rules, is a high-profile dispute with Oscar Wilde which leads to Wilde's imprisonment. Titus and Mick examine the civilisation of boxing, the invention of boxing gloves and Hezekiah Moscow, a boxer/bear tamer who quit boxing to tour England as a comedy sketch artist in 1892. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the seventeenth century in England, the earliest form of modern boxing emerged, a wild free for all style of fighting that included eye gouging, hair pulling, spitting, head-butting, shin-kicking, stomping and kicking downed opponents. Out of this world emerged the first heavyweight champion, James Figg who fought a total of 270 fights and lost only once. Titus O'Reily and Mick Molloy look at the early days of boxing, the first ever rules, the invention of boxing gloves and the first championship "belt"—made of lionskin and sterling silver. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you thought Part One was crazy, Part Two is looser than a night out with John Daly. We pick up just after Daly had signed a sponsorship contract with a 'no alcohol or gambling' clause. What follows is an awful lot of drinking and gambling. Titus O’Reily and Mick Molloy finish off the series on John Daly, or as he is more commonly known 'Mick's Spirit Animal'. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Golfer John Daly may be one of the most relatable sportspeople ever, having once said, “I don’t think I’ve ever stepped in the gym – they won’t let me smoke there.” Daly took the golfing world by storm, winning the 1991 PGA Tournament with his impossibly long drives. Off the course, Daly racked up marriages, scandals and suspensions far faster than he ever won tournaments. In part one, Titus O’Reily and Mick Molloy examine a man who once got into a fight on a golf course with another golfer and that golfer's entire family. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite a valiant effort to stay on holiday forever, Mick and Titus will return in 2023, with the first episode going out on the 6th of February. Titus gives a brief overview of the year ahead and reveals the focus of episode one. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the final episode in our dodgy road to the Qatar World Cup series and our final show of 2022. Don’t worry, we’re back early in the new year. This episode looks at the fall of Sepp Blatter, features more arrests than an episode of The Wire and proves that when it comes to corruption, FIFA is on another planet. Titus O’Reily and Mick Molloy put the bow on this tale of money, football and people behaving like the emotion shame had never been invented. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's part of five of our look at the beautiful corruption that is FIFA; we pick up with Sepp Blatter still ascendant, but the cracks are starting to appear. Facing challenges for the FIFA presidency and numerous legal problems, Sepp tries to stay one step ahead, but unbeknownst to him, one member of the FIFA committee has begun working for the FBI and is wearing a wire. And yes, that is true, not a made-up bit. Titus O'Reily and Mick Molloy look at how Sepp stays one step ahead, executing an escape that would have had Harry Houdini say, 'how did he do that?' Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s part four of our look at the history of FIFA, which means it's time to introduce two new fun characters to our story, Chuck Blazer and Fred Warner, two men so corrupt even other FIFA delegates were shocked by them, which is saying something. We then cover the awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 Cup to Qatar and the delightful mess that was. Titus O'Reily and Mick Molloy then discuss how even Vladimir Putin went out of his way to suck up to FIFA executives, even providing content to one executive's travel blog. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s part three of our look at the history of FIFA, and in this episode, we introduce a young man with a sparkle in his eye, Sepp Blatter. Part Bond villain, part, well actually, all Bond villain; under Blatter, FIFA made the final step towards adopting corruption as the sole reason for its existence. Titus O'Reily and Mick Molloy examine the rise of Blatter, from President of a pressure group encouraging women to wear suspenders, the World Society of Friends of Suspenders, to President of FIFA. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s part two of our look at the history of FIFA, and its somewhat eccentric accounting practices. In this episode, we look at João Havelange, President of FIFA from 1974 to 1998, who brought in the money and bought the votes to be President. Titus O’Reily and Mick Molloy examine the career of João Havelange, the man who taught Sepp Blatter everything. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the FIFA World Cup in Qatar fast approaching, we begin a multi-episode dive into the corruption that led to FIFA thinking a country the size of the Falkland Islands, with no infrastructure and temperatures hovering around the 'too hot to play football' mark, could host arguably the biggest sporting event in the world. To kick off, Titus O'Reily and Mick Molloy examine the problems with Qatar and look back at the formation of FIFA. The next episode will be out later this week, so get ready for a festival of football and corruption. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 4 June 1974, the Cleveland Indians decided to host a ten-cent beer night to attract fans; beer at the stadium normally cost 65 cents, so ten cents was a real incentive. The Indians were in a 30-year slump at the time, as was the city, their river would catch fire with alarming regularity, so the scene was set for trouble. Oh, and it was a full moon. The result was pure, unbridled chaos. There were streakers, firecrackers, a woman trying to kiss the home plate umpire and eventually, a full-scale riot. Titus O'Reily and Mick Molloy examine a night that started badly and then got worse. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Frederick Charles Standish left England in 1852 under a false name and fleeing moneylenders. Landing in Melbourne, he was forced to live on the goldfields and run a sly grog business. Yet, just six years later, he would be the colony's Chief Commissioner of police, be a pallbearer at Robert O’Hara Burke's funeral, invent the Melbourne Cup, become a key player in the formation of the VRC and lead, very unsuccessfully, the hunt for Ned Kelly. Titus O'Reily and Mick Molloy examine the life of one of Australia's strangest characters, a man who paused the hunt for Ned Kelly while the weights of the Melbourne Cup were declared. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Timothy John Rossovich was a star defensive end and linebacker at the University of Southern California and the Philadelphia Eagles, but it was off the field where his genius shone. Rossovich was famous for surreal pranks that included chewing glass, setting himself on fire and opening his mouth in a meeting to speak, only for a sparrow to fly out. After football, Rossovich would go on to be an actor and stuntman, appearing in "MacGyver," "Baywatch," "The Love Boat," "Knight Rider," "Charlie's Angels," "Remington Steele," "Soap," and "The A-Team." Titus O'Reily and Mick Molloy look at the life of a man who was once bored at a party, took all his clothes off, proceeded to pretend to hop like a frog and jumped into the birthday cake. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robert Standish Sievier was one of the most colourful personalities of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, a man who revolutionised bookmaking in Australia before returning to England, where his horse Sceptre won four of the five English classics. Joining the army and fighting in South Africa at 16, Sievier would go bankrupt countless times, father seventeen illegitimate progeny and be involved in some of the highest profile cases of the times. Titus O’Reily and Mick Molloy examine the life of a man who once brought a libel charge against someone for calling him a thief, a card cheat, and a murderer, only for the jury to find these were probably all true. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Contracts in sports contain clauses so weird they are scarcely believable. There are clauses banning players from going to nightclubs, but there's also been a clause insisting a player got drunk after every game. Contracts have included clauses for free sushi at all times, a demand a player ate sheep's testicles, a ban on extravagant haircuts and a bonus for growing a moustache. Titus O'Reily and Mick Molloy examine the weirdest contracts in sports, from the ones that saw enormous financial windfalls to the clauses that saw players demand everything from bulldozers to horses. Follow Sports Bizarre on: Instagram Facebook Twitter TikTok YouTube See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.