When I say “Wrestling”, most of you will probably think of muscled (or chubby) men and women trying to smack each other down to the floor. But in a small English village somewhere in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, they clearly took it to a different level, or shall I say ‘limb’?
Every year, many contestants travel down to Bently Brook in Fenny Bentley, to participate in the official World Toe Wrestling Championship.
The game itself was invented by a group of drinking buddies from Wetton, Staffordshire. Influenced by the great inspirer ‘Alcohol’ (the best ideas are always generated in the pub), they were frustrated by the fact that the UK didn’t produce that many world champions and decided that it was time for a new sport: Toe Wrestling was born.
The rules are very simple. First of all, every player needs to ‘wrestle’ with bare feet; meaning that socks are not allowed. After a bit of trash talking it’s time to start the first out of three rounds (legs would have sound weird ;-). The toes of the players are linked together in such a way that both feet are touching each other. We are now ready to toe tango!
The goal of the game is to pin down each other’s foot for at least 3 seconds; very similar to arm wrestling. After the first round (which is played with the right foot), the players switch to their left foot. In the third and final round, the players need to switch back to their right foot. Obviously, the player that won the most rounds is the winner of the match.
A familiar face in the ‘Toe Wrestling scene’ is toe wrestling veteran: Alan "Nasty" Nash. He takes his sport very serious and even developed his own “toe exerciser®” to push his toe muscles to the limit. His Hulk Hogan-like appearance on itself is enough to scare the hell out of his opponents, but the strategy he follows is a combination of both strength and intimidation.
"My technique ... is to hurt the first person that comes into the ring with me; hurt them bad and terrify everyone else,"
Toe wrestling is not without risk, there have been multiple reports of broken toes and strained ankles. And if you manage to make it through a toe fight without any injuries, you better hope that your opponent washed his feet, so you don’t wake up the next morning with a fungal infection. ;-)
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