I don’t know what it is about obscure British sporting events that capture my attention but I’ve been hooked for years. Between the ‘Shin Kicking’ championships earlier this month to the annual Gloucestershire Cheese Roll, these ridiculous competitions never disappoint.
Last weekend the 2019 World Thumb Wrestling Championships commenced with Paul ‘Under the Thumb’ Browse taking home the trophy for the fourth time. He’s the undisputed thumb wrestling champion of the world (4-times running) but he had to smash a lot of thumbs to get there.
I think what gets me the most about the 2019 World Thumb Wrestling Championships is how comically serious these contestants and officials take the event. It’s thumb wrestling but they’re treating it like the Super Bowl and I love it.
The event was held at the Lock’s Inn in Beccles, Suffolk and here are some highlights from this year’s thumb wrestling world championships:
If you’re interested in entering the 2020 Thumb Wrestling World Championship you’ll want to know the basics, and by that I mean you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the rules of the game. As they state on their official website, the beauty of this sport is its simplicity:
When competing in a Thumb Wrestling contest players hook the four fingers of their right (or left) hands together such that both hands are clasped tightly. Then a short pre-contest starting chant is repeated, the variant as used for UK Events follows: One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb-a-war! Then the 60-second contest begins.
To win a contest 1 player must pin their opponent’s thumb down for as long as it takes to say: one, two, three, four, I win thumb-o-war! If the referee agrees that this has been achieved then that player is the winner. When competing in the World championship you would then progress to the next round of the tournament.
If this cannot be achieved within 2 separate 60-second rounds then the tie will be settled with a game of sudden death “scissors, paper, stone”.
Yep, this is a thing! pic.twitter.com/AS0ome2FNT
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 29, 2019
It seems proper a thumb wrestling championship would be settled by a game of Paper, Rock, Scissors if the game was too close.
Additional rules include: (1) elbows must remain on surface at all times, (2) Please keep fingernails to a short length, and (3) Thumb decoration is encouraged [although nothing that is deemed performance enhancing will be permitted]
I don’t fully understand that third one. I guess they want you to paint your fingernails? If you were to paint your thumb then it would make your thumb slicker or more abrasive depending on the paint that was used.