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World Conker Championships

World Conker Championships
Strung conker.jpg
World Conker Championships
Highest governing body Ashton Conker Club
First played 1965
Characteristics
Contact No
Type Pub games, Precision sports
Equipment Strung conker

The World Conker Championships (WCC) are held annually on the second Sunday in October in the county of Northamptonshire, England. Two players use conkers threaded onto a string and take turns to strike the others nut until it shatters. Since 1965, conker players from around the world have gathered to compete in a knock-out, to be world champion in team and individual, also women's and youth titles. Up to 5000 spectators watch around 400 players participating. from many countries, including Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The next World Conker Championship will be held on 14 October 2018.

The World Conker Championships began in 1965 when a group of anglers in Ashton held a conker contest at the Chequered Skipper public house because the weather was too bad to go fishing The event was held in Ashton for 45 years before moving to a larger venue at the Shuckburgh Arms in Southwick, Northamptonshire in 2009. Money made from the competition goes to charities such as the Northamptonshire Association for the Blind and the Huntingdon Society for the Blind.

The tournament has been threatened with conker shortages over the years, in 1976 conkers used in the tournament had to be flown in from Jersey, in 1980 freak spring weather was one of the factors that threatened the World Conker Championships causing a conker shortage, and in 1982 a late frost killed off the horse chestnut blossom resulting in a failed conker harvest.

On Thursday 6 October 2011, Ashton Conker Club the organisers of the World Conker Championships were forced to cancel the event over safety fears with high winds being forecasted. In 2012, the championships were cancelled again when a suitable venue couldn't be found in time.

Concerns for the future of the event were voiced over the Horse-chestnut leaf miner moth, Cameraria ohridella, which has appeared in the region and could have a detrimental effect on the UK's Horse-chesnut population affecting conker yields.

Players' Rules of Engagement for the Noble Game of Conkers as follows: [1]


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