←back to thread

World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating

(www.theguardian.com)
424 points notamy | 1 comments | 15 Oct 24 03:12 UTC | HN request time: 0.215s | source
Show context
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.

replies(39): >>41844679 #>>41844680 #>>41844692 #>>41844710 #>>41844745 #>>41844790 #>>41844893 #>>41844956 #>>41844990 #>>41845090 #>>41845138 #>>41845146 #>>41845586 #>>41845601 #>>41845668 #>>41845691 #>>41845701 #>>41845708 #>>41845741 #>>41845780 #>>41845876 #>>41845950 #>>41845966 #>>41846137 #>>41846168 #>>41846302 #>>41846427 #>>41846459 #>>41846461 #>>41846479 #>>41846565 #>>41846594 #>>41846647 #>>41846716 #>>41846833 #>>41846898 #>>41847062 #>>41847270 #>>41847710 #
lock_enthusiast ◴[15 Oct 24 03:38 UTC] No.41844679[source]▶
I feel there is enough in the article to build an image of the game in your head: I'm imagining a game game where two people trying to destroy the other person's chestnut by whirring and hitting the chestnuts on the end of strings. Now I'm going to go check my mental image against wikipedia.
replies(3): >>41844989 #>>41845134 #>>41846825 #
conductr ◴[15 Oct 24 05:08 UTC] No.41845134[source]▶
I’m American and never heard of this sport in my life yet article painted a similar picture in my mind.
replies(1): >>41845626 #
raffraffraff ◴[15 Oct 24 06:40 UTC] No.41845626[source]▶
It's not a sport, it's something that kids used to do pre 1950s. People were poor, didn't have manufactured "stuff", so they made their own toys out of simple things like stones, sticks, old wheels etc Football was likely popular because a single ball could keep a while bunch of kids happy for an afternoon (if someone could actually afford a ball).

I'm almost 50, and to me the image of boys playing conkers only comes from books or TV based in early 1900s UK. I've never actually seen anyone play it.

And nowadays people don't really grow up at all. They continue playing right into adulthood and old age, with luxury toys.

replies(16): >>41845661 #>>41845680 #>>41845697 #>>41845727 #>>41845798 #>>41845861 #>>41845867 #>>41845878 #>>41845997 #>>41846013 #>>41846481 #>>41846710 #>>41846757 #>>41846867 #>>41847060 #>>41847961 #
loup-vaillant ◴[15 Oct 24 08:57 UTC] No.41846481[source]▶
> And nowadays people don't really grow up at all. They continue playing right into adulthood and old age, with luxury toys.

It would be nice if we stopped stigmatising play. Growing up doesn't mean we stop playing. Acting grown-up might mean stop playing, but it's just that — an act, and a likely childish one. Real adults don't give up on what brings them joy.

replies(1): >>41846821 #
sersi ◴[15 Oct 24 09:49 UTC] No.41846821[source]▶
Back when I was a teenager, I used to also have similar thoughts as the person you replied to about not playing with toys because it was childish behavior.

Luckily, I grew out of that and I do not feel self conscious when playing as an adult or being goofy.

replies(1): >>41847302 #
1. razakel ◴[15 Oct 24 11:07 UTC] No.41847302[source]▶
>To carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

- C. S. Lewis