Introducing the Bavarian sport of Fingerhakler

Every country has a so called sport that it likes to call its own and in Germany, it’s the sport of  Fingerhakler or finger wrestling that manages to attract plenty of participants.

Bavarian championships

There are regular competitive championships held in Bavaria where contestants link their middle fingers through a leather loop and then attempt to pull their opponent across a table to the delight of a mainly male crowd dressed in lederhosen.

Beer, sausages and lederhosen

There is no shortage of local beer, large sausages and typical Bavarian music whilst competitors aged from teens to those in their 70s risk embarrassment and even dislocated or sometimes broken fingers in these competitions.

So popular is the ‘sport’ that the Fingerhakler Gau Auerberg association which was founded in 1961 arranges the competitions and sets the rules that have to be followed.

Different weight divisions

Like amateur wrestling, contestants are divided into categories according to their age and weight with the weight divisions being  light, middle, semi-heavy and heavyweight.

There is also a somewhat mistitled International Alpine championship which is held regularly near the Bavarian town of Ohlstadt, but they only let Austrians take part despite the addition of the word ‘international’ in its title.

Referee enforces the rules

There is a set of rules defining the proper size of chairs, tables and the leather loop and each bout which is unlikely to last as long as one minute,  is overseen by  a referee who will ensure that there is no cheating.

Although primarily a German pastime, it is known that similar events do from time to time take place across much of Scandinavia.