| Where: | Wortley, Yorkshire at Wortley Rugby Club on Finkle St Lane |
| When: | A Saturday in May |
| Time: | Practice sessions from 1pm with Championship from 2pm |
The ancient game of Knurr and Spell was once very popular in the North off England, especially Lancashire and Yorkshire, and it’s recently been revived as a regular contest by local historian Boz Davison, who also promotes the game with talks on its history and demonstrations. It involves a small ball or potty projectile (the Knurr) being launched into the air from a wooden sprung trap (the Spell) and hit with a long stick- and the player who hits the Knurr the furthest wins. It’s a simple idea, but involves specialist equipment which is tricky to source, and it requires a large playing field; it’s closely related to similar games such as Nipsy. It has been referred to as “poor man’s golf” as it was a game played mainly by the mining and working class communities in its heyday, often with generous prizes for the winners . The game slowly disappeared into obscurity through the twentieth century, but was revived in 2024 and is now once again a regular fixture. The current modern record is 108 yards for men and 98 for women- distances are improving with practice but have yet to match the 1940 record of 353 yards by Henry Mollard of Grenoside, who used a 5-foot-long stick. There are classes for juniors of various ages and for men and women, and all equipment is provided on the day.
Helpful Hints
In 2026 the World Championship was on Saturday 9th May- 2027 date is yet to be announced.
Entry is free of charge, and prospective competitors are able to practice their shots ahead of the Championship (as practice makes perfect, and many entrants are unlikely to have played the game very often before!). Cricket bats, hockey sticks and hurling sticks may be used to hit the projectiles, all of which are shorter than the original sticks but safer to use.
The game is also played on a number of dates around the year including Yorkshire Day and there are talks at various local venues (see links below for details).
Click here for the sport’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/knurr.and.spell.2025
Click here for a video of the game in action: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1736604067203163
Many thanks to Boz Davison for the photo, video link and all the info!
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