First-Time Player in a Tiger Suit Wins World Conker Title

Frankie Hooper had never played conkers before Sunday. By the end of the day in Southwick, Northamptonshire, the 28-year-old in a tiger suit was World Conker Champion and Queen Conker.

The 59th World Conker Championships were held on Sunday, October 11, 2026, in the village of Southwick in England. More than 250 competitors took part. Hooper was playing for the first time. She won the women's title first. She then faced men's champion Simon Griffiths, 35, from Stamford, in the grand final, and beat him too.

No one in her group had planned that result. Hooper came with friends dressed as animals from Noah's Ark. She wore a tiger suit. Her team won best fancy dress. Then she kept winning at conkers.

A first game that became a title run

Hooper said afterward that she felt mainly confused. She also said she felt very excited and happy to have won.

A first-time player does not expect to leave with the top prize. Hooper had no past results at the event and no years of practice. She had a costume, a group of friends, and a final opponent who had already won the men's competition.

Griffiths arrived in the grand final as men's champion. Beating him made Hooper the overall champion, with two honours on the same day: the women's title and the Queen Conker crown.

Her boyfriend, Jonty Carr, watched the final in a tiger suit as well. Carr said he had been coming to the championships for eight years, and that he felt sick watching the final.

How conkers works

Conkers are the seeds of the horse chestnut tree. Players thread each seed on a lace. Two players take turns. One holds a conker still while the other swings a conker on its lace to strike it. A player wins by smashing the opponent's conker.

That is the whole contest. One conker breaks, or it holds. The next player steps up.

The simplicity helps explain the wide field. This year entrants came from about 10 countries, including Japan, Germany and Holland. Organizers had expected about 256 competitors. The final count passed 250, in line with that expectation.

The fancy dress adds to the draw. Hooper and her friends treated the day as a group outing as much as a sporting test. Their Noah's Ark theme won the best fancy dress prize before Hooper's title run was complete.

Key numbers

• 59th edition of the World Conker Championships
• Date: Sunday, October 11, 2026
• Place: Southwick, Northamptonshire, England
• Competitors: more than 250 took part, with about 256 expected
• Countries: entrants from about 10 countries, including Japan, Germany and Holland
• Champion: Frankie Hooper, age 28, playing for the first time
• Men's champion beaten in the grand final: Simon Griffiths, age 35, from Stamford
• First championships: 1965
• First year women were allowed to enter: 1988

A championship with a long history

The championships began in 1965 and have run in Southwick for decades, drawing players from well beyond the village.

Women were first allowed to enter in 1988, more than two decades after the first event. Hooper's win sits in that longer story: a woman won the women's title, then the grand final against the men's champion, on her first day playing.

The event also raises money for charities that aid people with visual impairment. Since it began, it has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds. That fundraising role is a central part of the day, alongside the competition.

The steel conker row and a change at the top

In 2024 the championships drew controversy over claims that a steel conker had been used by the winner, David Jakins. Jakins was later cleared.

Organizers now use steel conker detectors to check the conkers in play. Jakins has since stood down, and committee chairman Jim Packer has taken the King Conker title role.

Against that background, a clean result helped this year. A first-time winner in a tiger suit gave the championships a story that needs no argument to explain.

What the win means

Hooper did not arrive as a favourite. She arrived as part of a fancy dress team, and she left as champion. That is why the result travelled far beyond Southwick: a seed on a lace, a village field, a tiger suit, and a newcomer who beat the men's champion on her first try.

She said she felt confused, excited and happy. Carr, who knows the event well after eight years, said he felt sick watching. Between those two reactions sits the whole day.