It’s just lost rights to show the Boat Race but the BBC has a cracking consolation for sports fans – the broadcaster is sending a team of 11 to cover Sunday’s world conker championships.
The semi-finals and final in the leafy Northamptonshire village of Southwick will be broadcast via livestream on the BBC’s regional website and news app.
It let slip in an email to event organisers that a team of 11 from two regional BBC centres will capture every thwack in the six-hour contest featuring 256 players from around the world.
The BBC has also lost Test cricket and the Grand National and its staff told locals it moved on to conkering after last year’s event went viral online when the winner was accused of cheating with a steel conker.
Metal detectors will be used on Sunday to avoid another furore.
A local conker competitor said: ‘It’s lovely the BBC is sending a team to our annual event but it does feel a little strange to be broadcasting conker championships when a couple of weeks ago it said it would not cover the Boat Race any more.’
Channel 4 has grabbed the Boat Race which the BBC had covered live since 1927, initially on radio.
A Channel 4 insider said: ‘It is a very expensive event to broadcast because of the distance involved and all of the helicopters, drones and trucks required.’
Just smashing: The BBC, which has lost rights to the Boat Race, Test cricket and the Grand National, will broadcast Sunday’s World Conker Championship. Pictured: Winner David Jakins, 83, who was wrongly accused of cheating last year
President and chief umpire of the World Conker Championships, Richard Howard, pictured with Kelci Banschbach as she received her award for winning the women’s category in 2024
Interest in the conker championships soared after last year’s winner, former toolmaker David Jakins, 83, was later found to have a steel conker in his pocket.
He had aroused suspicion by winning a few matches with a single hit. But he said he kept the steel conker in his pocket as a joke and never used it in the competition.
Championship spokesman St John Burkett said: ‘David was cleared after an investigation but he hadn’t helped himself in the first place.
‘He will be competing today and hoping to retain his title of King Conker. His legs have gone a bit so he going to do a lot of sitting down this year. His steel conker looks just like the real thing but this year it will be kept out of his reach and on display in a locked box.’
Today’s competition was in doubt after a dry summer reduced the size and number of conkers.
Fans nationwide came to the rescue and donated thousands of conkers, including a royal donation hand-picked at Windsor Castle.
The BBC refused to confirm how many staff it was sending.
But a spokesman said: ‘We are proud that our BBC Local news and radio services across England are here to bring audiences every part of local life, including the unique and traditional events that bring communities together like the world conker championships.
‘These will be covered across our local platforms on BBC Radio Northampton, BBC Look East regional TV news along with live streamed updates for Northamptonshire on our website and app.’
