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World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

(www.theguardian.com)
424 points notamy | 5 comments | 15 Oct 24 03:12 UTC | HN request time: 0.223s | source
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umanwizard ◴[15 Oct 24 03:33 UTC] No.41844648[source]▶
Is this game well-known enough in Britain and Ireland that readers will know what on earth is being alleged just from reading this article? Or are you expected to have to google it?

Apparently it’s a game where you take turns swinging a chestnut on a string and trying to hit the opponent’s chestnut and break it. Yes, I can see how a steel fake chestnut would be an advantage here, though I’m amazed it wouldn’t be instantly obvious to even a casual observer that the look and sound were wrong. So maybe I’m still missing something.

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Finbarr ◴[15 Oct 24 03:40 UTC] No.41844692[source]▶
Yes, it is. It’s a game most news-reading-age adults will have played when they were at school as children.
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1. fy20 ◴[15 Oct 24 04:34 UTC] No.41844971[source]▶
It's a game you play as a kid. This is the first I've heard of there being a professional league.

On the other hand, we also have competitions such as cheese rolling (trying not to get killed by a giant cheese wheel rolling down a hill), so I'm not that surprised.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-gloucestershire-6...

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2. ackbar03 ◴[15 Oct 24 04:42 UTC] No.41845013[source]▶
I know the version where you try not to kill yourself chasing the cheese. Are you saying there's one where the cheese chases and tries to kill you?
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3. riffraff ◴[15 Oct 24 05:46 UTC] No.41845301[source]▶
I feel we've entered Terry Pratchett territory in this thread, and I'm very happy about it.
4. stoneman24 ◴[15 Oct 24 06:03 UTC] No.41845399[source]▶
Shhhh! The first rule of cheese-chase is never talk about cheese-chase.

British coroners know the signs….

5. buggeryorkshire ◴[15 Oct 24 07:07 UTC] No.41845745[source]▶
I did that race twice, dislocated my left shoulder each time. Scariest thing i've ever done.

People have the misapprehension that you're supposed to catch the cheese. No idea why you'd think it's a good idea to catch a rock hard lump whilst running down a hill so fast that if you tense your legs once to slow down you do 3 cartwheels.

Also just remembered - they have local rugby players to catch those who can't stop running from hitting the fence of the house at the bottom. Saw at least one person they missed who smacked into the fence and got carted off by St John's Ambulance.