Hard to believe, but it seems the French hope to beat us at our own game – conkers!
While our nanny state is intent on banning this favourite pastime from our local schools, our European neighbours have been hammering away at it in great style.
Mais oui, they even hope to thrash us in the World Championship this weekend – is nothing sacred for the Brits!
The game was introduced to France by the expat community and there are 300 paid up members, mostly French, of La Fédération Française de Conkers. It has soared in popularity, especially since being shown on French TV.
Their schools are not such killjoys either. French schoolchildren have taken it up in the playground free of meddlesome bureaucrats.
My son James was runner-up in his school conker championship a couple of years ago, I’m glad he wasn’t deprived the chance of this fun. It looks like we will soon have to hop over the Channel for a game if we cannot conker those killjoys….
Ellee,
This is what can happen now if any children resist the ban. This story was in the news yesterday, but the media largely ignored it.
Conkers seized by police
A policeman stopped and searched four children – for having conkers.
The children were issued with forms informing them why they were stopped from knocking the conkers from the tree.
According to The Sun: “The kids were only throwing sticks up into the tree – it was harmless fun.”
Rebecca Richardson, 36, whose son Charlie, 11, was also issued with a form, said: “I thought it was a joke.”
Sussex Police confirmed: “We confiscated a large bag of conkers. The forms are a necessary form of bureaucracy to ensure parents are aware we have spoken to their children.”
It doesn’t make sense at all, it’s totally ludicrous. Why can’t kids be kids and be allowed to have fun?
Excellent story read http://coppersblog.blogspot.com or as his strapline says “…where nothing is too insane for it to be written down and copied in triplicate.”
I remember being banned from playing conkers at school and all it did was drive it underground!
We gathered the conkers in secret, hid them about our clothes and played where no one could see us.
Vive la conker resistance!
It’s such stupidity that we are so nannyed we can’t do anything anymore. And this government are the first to complain when kids don’t bother to play outdoors anymore and all get fat.
I’m with the police, a good wind when the conkers are ripe is best. Why did they confiscate the conkers though….?
Cos they were to lazy to go and get their own 🙂
It is ridiculous but I can see the schools’ point of view. If you’ve ever watched a group of kids get violent suddenly and quickly, you’ll know what I mean. Schools are really in a difficult position with regard to the litigious society.
Is nothing sacred? Health and safety killjoys try to spoil enjoyments for so many youngsters. As said above, it will just drive it underground.
We should be glad our kids still want to play outdoors instead of being glued to TV, I think conkers are definitely the lesser of two evils, even if they do end up with bruised knuckles!
This weekend? Bummer. That doesn’t give me much time to do some special preparation.
This leaves me apoplectic. As a serial PC detester, this sort of thing goes hand in hand with it – PP – party poopers. How *&^&* ridiculous. whatever is running through these people’s minds? Nannying leaves a soft underbelly and the destruction, by attrition, of values.
“underground conkers”..?
As a professional grumpy old man, I find it extremely sad that the streets of Croydon are littered with fallen conkers that are just left there and ignored….