Weirdly wonderful: 8 odd Finnish sports to try

Finnish sports are a reliable window into the Finnish mind. Alongside ice hockey and ski jumping, which are serious national business, there is a parallel world of eccentric competitions that Finns organise, attend and watch with a completely 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.

1. Wife carrying

Wife carrying began in Sonkajärvi, in North Savo, and has run annually since 1992. The objective is to carry your partner through an obstacle course, water obstacle included, 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 has been refined over decades.

That technique is called the Estonian carry, in which the wife hangs upside down from the carrier's back with her legs round his neck, freeing his hands. It is named after the Estonians, because they turned up and won it repeatedly.

Finland invented the sport, then watched Estonia win it so often that the winning technique is named after them.

2. Mobile phone throwing

The World Mobile Phone Throwing Championship takes place in Savonlinna. Competitors go for distance, accuracy, or freestyle, which is judged on artistic presentation.

The sport started in Finland in 2000 and has since spread internationally, though Finland remains its spiritual home. Broken phones are replaced. Functional ones are occasionally thrown as a matter of principle.

3. Swamp football

Swamp football is football played in a bog. The pitch is marshland, movement is substantially impeded by several centimetres of water and mud, and the rules are otherwise those of ordinary football.

The World Swamp Football Championships are held in Hyrynsalmi. It began as a training exercise for soldiers and athletes before somebody decided it was also a competition.

4. Hobbyhorse riding

Hobbyhorse riding means competing on handmade toy horses in events adapted from equestrian sport, including show jumping and dressage. It was popularised in Finland through the 2010s and reached an international audience with a 2017 documentary.

Participants apply the same technical rigour as conventional equestrian competitors. The horses are often handmade with considerable craftsmanship. Most people who have watched a round think it deserves the seriousness it gets.

5. Air guitar

The Air Guitar World Championships have been held in Oulu every year since 1996, as part of the Oulu Music Video Festival. Competitors are judged on technical merit, stage presence and airness, a quality the judges recognise but nobody has successfully defined.

The stated philosophy is that if everyone played air guitar, wars would end. This is offered with complete sincerity.

6. Wellington boot throwing

Boot throwing, or kumisaappaanheitto, is exactly what it sounds like. Competitors hurl a rubber wellington as far as they can, and the distances are more impressive than anyone expects the first time they watch.

Finland has run organised boot throwing for decades, with its own technique, its own records and its own quiet arguments about the ideal boot. It 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 around forty mosquito species, and above the Arctic Circle in summer the population is genuinely impressive. Mosquito swatting contests, in which competitors kill as many as possible within a set time, have been held in Lapland.

They exist because at some point, faced with that many mosquitoes, the obvious next step is to start counting.

8. Competitive berry picking

Everyman's rights allow anyone in Finland to pick wild berries anywhere in the countryside. Competitive picking, meaning who gathers the most in a set time, follows naturally from a culture that already takes the activity seriously.

Participants spread out across the forest with purpose. Speed and technique matter. The berries are eaten. Finland has dozens of edible wild berry species, so there is no shortage of material.

Seriously strange

The through line in all of these, and in everything else Finland turns into a competition, is the capacity to commit entirely to something the rest of the world has not decided to take seriously yet.

It is the same quality that produces excellent engineers, resilient athletes and a functioning swamp football circuit.

The sports are funny. The commitment is genuine. Both things are true at once.

You can find the rest of it in the Finnish sports collection.

Frequently asked questions

Why does Finland have so many unusual sports?

A dry sense of humour, a tendency to take things seriously regardless of whether they are serious, and a genuine fondness for the outdoors. Finland's odd competitions are typically well organised events with real rules and competitive histories, which is rather the point.

Where is the Wife Carrying World Championship held?

In Sonkajärvi, in the North Savo region, every year since 1992. The course is 253.5 metres including a water obstacle, and the winner takes home his partner's weight in beer. Estonian competitors dominated it for years, which is why the standard technique is called the Estonian carry.

Where are the Air Guitar World Championships held?

In Oulu, in Northern Finland, annually since 1996, as part of the Oulu Music Video Festival. Competitors are judged on technique, stage presence and airness. International competitors have won multiple times, but Finland hosts and the crowd is home-field quality.

Is swamp football a real sport?

Yes. It is played on actual boggy ground with real rules and organised championships, and the World Swamp Football Championships take place in Hyrynsalmi. It started as a fitness and endurance training method before becoming a competition in its own right.

What is hobbyhorse riding?

Competing on handmade toy horses in events drawn from equestrian sport, including show jumping, dressage and cross-country. The horses are crafted with care and often personalised, and riders are judged by conventional equestrian criteria. It 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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