Weirdly wonderful: 7 odd Finnish sports to try

Finnish sports are, taken as a whole, a reliable window into the Finnish mind. Alongside ice hockey and ski jumping, serious national pursuits, there exists a parallel world of eccentric competitions that Finns organise, attend and take with a straight face. The same Finnish personality traits that produce remarkable engineers and world-class endurance athletes also produce the World Wife Carrying Championship. Both make a kind of sense, and both sit comfortably in the wider Finnish sports collection.

1. Wife carrying

Wife carrying began in Sonkajärvi, in central Finland, and is now an annual international event with a world championship. The objective is to carry your partner through an obstacle course, including a water obstacle, in the fastest time possible. The prize is the wife's weight in beer. The competition is real, the training is real and the technique (the Estonian carry, in which the wife hangs upside down from the carrier's back) has been refined over decades. Finland takes it seriously because Finland takes most things seriously.

The prize being measured in beer is a detail worth pausing on. When a Finn wins something, there is exactly one word for what happens next.

2. Mobile phone throwing

The World Mobile Phone Throwing Championship takes place in Savonlinna. Participants compete for distance, freestyle (artistic presentation) or accuracy. The sport originated in Finland in 2000 and has since spread internationally, though Finland remains its spiritual home. Broken phones are replaced and functional ones are occasionally thrown as a matter of principle.

3. Swamp football

Swamp football is football played in a bog. Pitches are found in marshland, movement is substantially impeded by several centimetres of water and mud and the game is played with the same basic rules as standard football. The World Swamp Football Championships are held in Hyrynsalmi. The sport was originally used as a training exercise for Finnish soldiers and athletes before someone decided it was also a competition.

4. Hobbyhorse riding

Hobbyhorse riding, competing on handmade toy horses in events adapted from equestrian sport, including show jumping and dressage, was popularised in Finland in the 2010s and gained significant international attention when a documentary was made about it. Participants treat the sport with the same technical rigour as conventional equestrian events. The horses are often handmade with considerable craftsmanship. The discipline is taken seriously. Most people who have seen it compete think it should be.

Ninety minutes in a bog, or a full dressage routine on a toy horse, both ask for the same underlying quality. Finns have a word for it.

5. Air guitar

The Air Guitar World Championships take place annually in Oulu. Competitors are judged on technical merit, stage presence and "airness", an ineffable quality recognised by the judges. The competition has been held since 1996 and draws participants from across the world. Finland's philosophy is that if everyone played air guitar, wars would end. This is stated with complete sincerity.

6. Wellington boot throwing

Boot throwing, or kumisaappaanheitto, is exactly what it sounds like. Competitors hurl a rubber wellington boot as far as they can, and the distances involved are more impressive than anyone expects the first time they watch. Finland has held organised boot-throwing competitions for decades, with its own technique, its own records and its own quiet debates about the ideal boot. It is the kind of sport that could only have been invented by people who own a great many wellingtons and spend a great many months indoors thinking about them.

7. Mosquito swatting

Finland has approximately 35 species of mosquito and an annual mosquito competition in the Lapland region where participants compete to swat the most mosquitoes in a set time period. Finland's mosquito population is, in summer, genuinely impressive, particularly above the Arctic Circle. The competition exists because at some point the obvious step is to start counting.

Anyone who has stood in a Lapland summer evening surrounded by several thousand mosquitoes knows the precise word that the situation calls for.

8. Competitive berry picking

Finland's everyman's rights law allows anyone to pick wild berries anywhere in the countryside. Competitive berry picking, who picks the most in a given time, follows naturally from a culture that takes the activity seriously. Participants spread out across the forest with purpose. Speed and technique matter. The berries are eaten. Finland has roughly 37 edible wild berry species; there is no shortage of material.

Seriously strange

The through line in all of these sports, and in everything else Finland turns into a competition, is the Finnish capacity to commit entirely to something that the rest of the world hasn't decided to take seriously yet. It's the same quality that produces excellent engineers, resilient athletes and, apparently, a thriving swamp football circuit. The sports are funny. The commitment is genuine. Both things are true.

Frequently asked questions

Why does Finland have so many unusual sports?

A culture that combines a dry sense of humour, a tendency to take things seriously regardless of whether they're serious and a genuine fondness for the outdoors tends to produce unusual sports. Finland's unusual competitions are typically well-organised events with genuine rules and competitive histories. They reflect the same qualities, thoroughness, invention and a certain disregard for how things look from the outside, that run through Finnish culture more broadly.

Where is the Wife Carrying World Championship held?

The Wife Carrying World Championship is held annually in Sonkajärvi, in the North Savo region of Finland. It has taken place every year since 1992. The event draws international competitors and is organised with full championship infrastructure, including heats, finals and a prize ceremony. Finland wins it often.

Where are the Air Guitar World Championships held?

The Air Guitar World Championships are held in Oulu, in Northern Finland and have run annually since 1996. The event is part of the wider Oulu Music Video Festival. Competitors are judged on technique, stage presence and what the event terms "airness." International competitors have won multiple times, but Finland hosts and the crowd is home-field quality.

Is swamp football a real sport?

Yes. Swamp football is played on actual swampy ground with real rules and organised championships. The World Swamp Football Championships take place in Hyrynsalmi, Finland. Teams of five or six players compete on a pitch in a bog, which significantly changes the physical demands of the game. It was originally used as a fitness and endurance training method before becoming a competition.

What is hobbyhorse riding?

Hobbyhorse riding is a Finnish sport in which participants compete on handmade toy horses in events drawn from equestrian sport, including show jumping, dressage and cross-country. The horses are crafted with care, often personalised and the riders are judged by the same criteria as in conventional equestrian competition. The sport developed in Finland and became internationally known through a 2017 documentary.

101 Very Finnish Problems began as a list of observations about Finnish life. It became a book because the observations kept coming.

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