A new type of wrestling emerges in the UK: Toe Wrestling
Growing up a lot of people may have played a playground sport that was very popular in schools around the world; thumb wrestling. This interesting activity pits two people against each other as they lock hands and try to put their thumb over their opponents
thumb for three seconds to win. This playground activity must have arrived in the UK sometime in the 70s and at a pub the inklings of a new game were slowly forming. Those inklings turned into the sport of toe wrestling; a slightly smellier version of thumb
wrestling. It has over time grown in popularity and a yearly championship now takes place in the UK.
This very interesting sport started in the 1970s at an English pub in Wetton, Derbyshire. The origin of the sport centres on a funny story. Once, during a moment of drunken lucidity, George Burgess who was sitting at the Ye Olde Royal Oak Inn had an idea
for a new sport. He, being the patriotic British man that he was, was sick and tired of England losing at so many sports and wanted to devise a sport that the English could claim as their own and be champions at. The sport of toe wrestling was born and the
first championship was held. The funny part of this story is that the first tournament was actually won by a visiting Canadian man.
The rules of the sport are very interesting, as light-hearted as the sport itself is. Each match may consist of either two men or two women sitting opposite each other on the floor. There is a whole Toe Ceremony in which each player removes the shoes and
socks of the other player sitting in front of them. The players interlock the big toes of their right feet and when they are ready the referee gives the command ‘toes away’ and the match starts. The contest is similar to an arm wrestling match where the competitors
must try and force the side’s of their opponent’s feet to touch the floor by pushing them down. If the pain of the contest becomes too much a player may shout out the words ‘toe much’ and the referee is obliged to stop the match. Each match is decided as the
best of three contests; right toes first, then left toes and then right toes again if a winner is still undecided.
Over the years there have been some very prominent toe wrestling champions. The greatest of all time has to be Alan ‘Nasty’ Nash who has won the event 6 times. He is also currently the world champion; one has to wonder how exactly he prepares and trains
for such an event. Another great competitor is Paul ‘Toeminator’ Beech, who has won the event 4 times in the past. In 1999, for the first time a women’s event was held and the champion for that year was Karen ‘Kamikaze’ Davies; she went on to win the championship
four times in total. The current ladies champion is first time winner Lisa ‘Twinkle Toes’ Shenton. Alan Nash was even featured on the Tonight Show on American television.
The whole sport is a little bit tongue and cheek and is not really supposed to be taken too seriously. It is a fun filled event but it does fulfil a lot of the requirements of a sport. It is a competition, there is a physical aspect involved to it and it
has a very specific, although funny, set of rules that govern it. The sport even has a sponsor in Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream and all the proceeds of the event go towards charity. So, all in all, this is a sport which has a good heart too.
With toe wrestling becoming more and more popular in the UK and more people taking part in it, it could be just a matter of time before the sport spreads and becomes popular all over Europe, North America even and then one day maybe the world. There could
be toe wrestling championships held in many different countries and the legacy of George Burgess would live on forever.
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