St.John Burkett

What makes a conker champion?

Last weekend, for the 54th time, hundreds of competitors met to compete for the title of world conker champion in the village of Southwick in Northamptonshire. King Conker was there to oversee the proceedings. Jasmine Tetley beat the men’s champion Ady Hurrell in the Grand Final to retain the title she won in 2019.

There are several different versions of the game of conkers, but essentially it involves ‘smashing’ your opponent’s nut before they break yours. At the world championships, competitors have to draw a conker blind from a bag for each match, and then have three swings at their adversary’s conker, before receiving three. This repeats for up to five minutes when, if neither conker is broken, there is a penalty shoot-out — three lots of three swings each, with the most hits winning the contest. There are some other technical rules, such as the leather lace needing to be ‘eight inches from knuckle to nut’ on strike. The ‘Oundle chop’ or the ‘Southwick sideswipe’ are two popular techniques.

No one quite knows where or how the game of conkers started. It is traditional in the UK, but it’s not ancient, because horse chestnut trees were only introduced to this country in the 17th century. The game is also popular abroad. The world championships have attracted entries over the years from around 40 or so countries. The French are big players, as are the Canadians and Germans. There is a fierce rivalry between countries and a local determination to keep the championship in English hands.

In the past few years, the world championships have held a ‘grand final’ in which the men’s world champion plays the women’s. Of the five finals, two have been won by the men’s champion, and three by the women’s.

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