Wait, What? Craziest International Sports Stories
From Twitter wars to actual, physical altercations between players and coaches—looking at you, Matt Barnes and Derek Fisher—us American sports fans have seen plenty of crazy stuff over the years.
And while nothing should surprise us anymore in the constant, up-to-the-second sports world, there might have been a few stories that slipped through the cracks because they happened overseas and didn't get the attention they probably deserved.
Since it can be tough to keep up with some of those other sports in other places around the world, here are some of the craziest international sports stories to educate you on how nuts some other athletes can be, too.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
England's 2011 Rugby World Cup Team Goes Full 'Wolf Of Wall Street' Style
True or not, it's no secret that rugby players are typically associated with hardcore partying, as they often play with the same intensity off the field as they do without pads on it.
But the story about England's 2011 Rugby World Cup team is absolutely insane.
While the team eventually was knocked out by France in the quarterfinal, it was their antics at a "Mad Midget Weekender" event at a bar in New Zealand that is most remembered, as numerous players were caught up in a dwarf-throwing scandal that is straight out of a freakin' movie like The Wolf of Wall Street or something.
Maybe even worse, one of the team's players, Mike Tindall—who is married to the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips—was alleged by the Sun (h/t Belfast Telegraph) to have groped a woman at the event, adding more bad news to the whole story.
And just when all that is bad enough, another player, Manu Tuilagi, decided to jump off a ferry and swim to safety because, well, I guess he didn't think there was enough bad publicity already.
Former Pro Boxer Busted Smuggling Over $339 Million Worth of Drugs
I can't even imagine what it'd be like to have $339 million, let alone that amount in illegal drugs. But former boxer Lee Eedle allegedly knows, because he was arrested late last year for taking part in a cocaine trafficking attempt.
Cops busted Eedle and some of his cohorts when the drugs were uncovered on a boat that was going from Colombia to Spain, with the cocaine not-so-cleverly disguised as charcoal.
There have been plenty of athletes who have made poor choices and have been caught smuggling drugs, but $339 million is an insane amount.
Brazilian Soccer Ref Pulls Gun on Angry Player
We all know that soccer is often a matter of life or death in different countries, but it usually stems from insane fans who can't handle their emotions, not from a ref who carries a gun with him while officiating a game!
That's what happened during a match in Brazil last year, though, as Brazilian referee Gabriel Murta ran to the locker room to grab his gun following a heated argument with a player over a red card.
Thankfully, Murta's fellow official kept the crazy ref from actually acting on his rage and using it, but still, how scary is this?
Pro Violinist, Vanessa-Mae, Wrongly Reported to Have Cheated Her Way Onto Thailand's 2014 Winter Olympics Ski Team
We've seen players do different things to cheat their way to victory or try to get an advantage over the opposition, so the allegations of professional violinist Vanessa-Mae swindling her way onto the Thailand Winter Olympics team wouldn't have been a complete shock.
The musician, who was born in Thailand, competed in the Winter Games under the name Vanessa Vanakorn for the country, but skiing officials alleged she never should have even made the team because they believed her qualifying matches were fixed by judges. At the time, it was thought officials created fake times for racers who didn't compete and had a slew of other lies to help Mae reach Sochi in 2014.
For her role, the violinist received a four-year skiing ban, but her disqualification and ban have since been overturned.
Russian Hockey Girl Uses Stick As Weapon, Breaks It Over Opponent's Head in Cheap Shot
This is one of the scariest things ever, as a lunatic who plays for Spartak-Moscow (Russia), a junior hockey team, attacked an opponent who was suited up for the USA West Coast Selects.
Blatantly using her stick as a weapon, Svetlana Starovoytova clocked American Hannah Bates on top of the head in one of the worst cheap shots I've ever seen in sports.
The victim didn't sustain any injuries, according to her Twitter, but wow, she's lucky it wasn't any worse, because the sound itself made me think she was headed for a long hospital visit. Scary.
English Cricketer Monty Panesar Relieves Himself Onto Bar Bouncers During Drunken Tirade
(Video contains profanity.)
We've all had our fair share of boozy nights when we get a little out of control—and pro athletes are absolutely no different.
Popular English cricketer Monty Panesar was never the greatest at his sport, giving him some unwanted popularity for his failures on the field, but it was his drunken behavior off it that became his biggest gaffe.
After being asked to leave a nightclub for upsetting a group of ladies, Panesar actually walked to the top of the club's building and began "relieving" himself and urinating onto the bouncers below, who immediately ran up to wrangle up the athlete.
We might rip on American athletes for making dumb decisions sometimes, but wow, this has to be one of the worst.
When Nippon Professional Baseball Got Caught Juicing Baseballs...in Back-To-Back Years
Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) is the highest level of the sport in Japan, so one would imagine that it wouldn't have scandals like juicing baseballs.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened—in back-to-back years!
Back in 2013, NPB commissioner Ryozo Kato admitted that the league's balls were secretly juiced, leading to more offense and, ultimately, costing Kato his job at the top.
Not learning from his predecessors' mistake, NPB's new commissioner, Katsuhiko Kumazaki, found himself forced to admit the exact same thing the following year, telling the press that the balls were, once again, doctored.
Kumazaki apologized, somewhat, but was still fortunate enough to keep himself in office. Still, what a black eye for the sport in Japan.
Jonas Borring Quits After Finding Out His Wife Is Dating Teammate
Remember those reports years ago of Tony Parker having a “sexting” relationship with former San Antonio Spurs teammate Brent Barry's wife, Erin? Turns out Parker wasn't the only one with an eye for one of his mates' ladies.
That's because another incident just happened in the Danish Superliga, as Randers FC midfielder Jonas Borring found out that the captain of the squad, Christian Keller, was dating his estranged wife—who was still living with him!
Isn't that like rule No. 1 for a teammate? To never mess with another guy's girlfriend or wife? If so, Keller just broke it in a big way, which caused Borring to quit the team after feeling like he got stabbed in the back, as he told Ekstra Bladet (h/t World Soccer).
EuroCup Basketball Game Turns Into Full Melee After Fan Rushes the Court
During a 2015 EuroCup game between two Turkish hoops teams, an unruly fan did more than just rile up the arena and talk trash to players. Instead, he ran onto the court—and it caused an unfortunate scene.
After the fan shoved a player, another baller tackled the fan to the hardwood. While it initially stopped the fan from doing any more damage, the ruckus was enough to spark another fight on the other side of the court.
This is why fans interrupting games is never a good idea.
Israeli Soccer Team Ashdod Is Chased Off of the Field by Opposing Fans
There might be sports that are considered to be more dangerous to play, but can anyone honestly say that soccer isn't one of the most unpredictably scariest on the planet?
That was proven in a match last year when, in a game between Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia and Ashdod, a full-blown riot broke out following a hard tackle from an Ashdod player, as fans took exception and rushed the field in rage.
Hoping to hunt down the entire Ashdod roster, fans chased the visiting squad around the pitch, scaring them so much that they literally ran them off the field.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
