Boys and girls, we really notice the change in the weather these days…Autumn has definitely arrived and the leaves are beginning to show their Autumn colours, before falling to the ground. If there’s a horse-chestnut tree in your neighbourhood you may already have found some hard, shiny dark brown nuts which have fallen to the ground from that tree. We call these Conkers and they are the seeds of the Horse-Chestnut tree.
For the past few years we have run a Conker Tournament for the senior pupils of our school, as the game has been played for generations all over Ireland and Britain. It is interesting to try out games that our grandparents and, indeed, great-grandparents, may have played during their school-days.
The conker tournament will be held on the week starting October 7th and each class will play separately for the first few rounds, until we have four finalists from each class. We will then combine the names and those 12 children will compete against each other. This year each round will have a time limit, so that we will not be delayed as much as we were, last year. We will have the final game in early November.
So, all you have to do, for now, is go and look for those prize-winning Conkers, find an old lace from an old runner or shoe and start practicing!! It will be great fun and, who knows, you may be the next Shanbally school Conker Champion!!!
Remember, if you’re not in, you can’t win !! Best of luck to all who enter !!
Here is a photo of the 2012-13 Conker Tournament prizewinners, Jaden, Cillian and Rebecca. Jaden is ready to take on the challenge again this year, while Cillian and Rebecca have moved on to Secondary school.
How do you play Conkers?
Each player has a conker hanging on its string. Players take turns at hitting their opponent’s conker. If you are the one whose conker is to be hit first, let it hang down from the string which is wrapped round your hand. The conker is held at the height your opponent chooses and is held perfectly still. Your opponent, the striker, wraps his conker string round his hand just like yours. He/She then takes his conker in the other hand and draws it back for the strike.
Releasing the conker he/she swings it down by the string held in the other hand and tries to hit the opponent’s conker (yours) with it. If a player misses hitting his/her opponents’ conker they are allowed up to two further goes. If a player hits his/her opponents conker in such a way that it completes a whole circle after being hit – known as ‘round the world’ – the player gets another go.The game goes on in turns until one or other of the two conkers is completely destroyed.
This year we are also introducing the five-minute rule, for the first time ever. Sometimes a game can become boring and time consuming. For that reason, and in order for the whole event to run smoothly, the following rule has been introduced. When a game has progressed for five minutes without a result in sight, the referees call a halt and the conker equivalent of a penalty shoot-out takes place. Players continue for a further five minutes, each player having three lots of three strikes alternately. The number of hits is recorded and unless a conker is broken the player with the highest score is declared the winner and goes through to the next round.