David Jakins, aged 82, became the Men’s World Conker Champion on Sunday after a “fantastic” one-hit win – but this led to his defeated opponent, Alastair Johnson-Ferguson, raising concerns about the conker Mr Jakins used during their face-off.
The controversy escalated when a steel conker was found inside Mr Jakins’ pocket, leading the World Conker Championships to launch an investigation into the cheating claims.
The object was painted brown, and “indistinguishable” from a real horse chestnut safe for its weight, the chairman of the event’s organising committee said.
The event based on a traditional children’s game requires its participants to use randomly picked conkers threaded onto a string.
The aim of the game is for a player to swing their conker at their opponent’s until one of them breaks.
Mr Jakins, also known as “King Conker”, denied having used the steel horse chestnut at any point during the tournament in Southwick, Northamptonshire.
The veteran player, whose victory on Sunday marked his first win since he began competing in 1977, added that he kept a steel conker on him for “humour value”.
Defeated men’s finalist Alastair Johnson-Ferguson told the Daily Telegraph he raised the allegations against Mr Jakins because his conker “disintegrated in one hit, and that just doesn’t happen”.
The tournament’s organising committee confirmed on Tuesday it was investigating the allegations.
“We don’t ever take one person’s word for it”, St John Burkett, chair of the event’s organising committee, told Sky News.
“He broke the conker in the men’s final with one hit, which was fantastic.
“It’s probably due to his technique and that’s what it’s looking like at the moment, but we just need to complete our investigations.”
Mr Burkett added that participants were being “closely watched” by four judges throughout the tournament, which would have made it difficult for Mr Jakins to cheat.
“Whilst Mr Jakins put his hand in his pocket at the end of the match and indeed threw a conker from a different pocket into the crowd, he was very closely watched by four judges,” Mr Burkett said.
“It looks like it was absolutely impossible for him to cheat. We have got … various other testimony that indicates innocence.”
Following his victory on Sunday, Mr Jakins said: “This means so much to me. I’m 82. My legs aren’t what they were, so to stand up there and become Men’s World Champion is wonderful.”
He declined to comment on the cheating allegations against him when contacted by the PA news agency, but was reported to have called the controversy “a load of nonsense” by the committee chair.
Mr Jakins was beaten to the title of overall World Conker Champion by his final opponent, 34-year-old women’s champion Kelci Banschbach, who only took up the game last year when she moved to Suffolk from the United States.
Ms Banschbach is the first American citizen to have won the competition since it began in 1965.
The competition has raised thousands of pounds for charity over the years.
