Take the Strain: Tug of War World Championships

“Pick up the rope! Take the strain! Steady! Pull!” When the referee barks those commands, eight competitors on each team muster every ounce of strength in their bodies and attempt to haul one another across the crumbling earth. Clutching a rope made of hemp or polypropylene, the first team to tug their opponents four metres from their starting position is the winner. They dig their steel-plated heels into the dirt – but strictly no spikes are allowed – while coaching staff guide and encourage them to victory. In the round-robin stages, each contest lasts two ends and the top four teams reach the semi-finals; the semi-finals and finals are decided over three ends. With varying age and weight categories, competitors range from their teens to their 70s. All have one thing in common: a fierce desire to win.

• The Switzerland team in the senior mens 600kg category final v the Basque Country.

• A competitor gets stamped on the forearm to verify his weight class.

• The Italian senior mixed 580kg team get a warning from an umpire for sitting down.

• (L) A Scotland athlete in the senior mens 680kg competition. (R) The Ukraine team in the under-23 mixed 560kg competition.

• Celebrations for the Swiss senior mens 560kg team as they win their final over the Basque Country.

• Some of the England team react after winning a bronze medal in the junior women’s 480kg competition.

No one knows when tug of war first started, but it has a rich history as the purest contest of human strength. Evidence shows that it featured in ceremonies and cults all over the world from Hawaii to Korea, Egypt to South America. For example, around the year AD1000, it can be found in the stories of Scandinavian and Germanic heroes from the so-called “kräftige spiele” or “power games”. Though it was never an official contest in the ancient Olympics Games, it did feature in the modern Olympics from Paris 1900 through to Antwerp 1920, with Great Britain winning the gold medal on two occasions. The sport was revived in the 60s and international matches have been staged every year since 1964. The world championships were last held in the UK in Blackpool in 2000.

• A member of the Switzerland women’s under-23 500kg team gets a head massage ibetween matches.

• The Sweden team in the senior men’s 680kg competition wait to be called for their match against Ireland.

• A member of Ukraine’s 520kg junior mixed team takes a sniff of smelling salts.

• (L) The hand of a competitor from the Basque Country, covered in sticky resin to help him grip the rope. (R) An England team member with a tug of war tattoo on her calf.

• The Chinese Taipei team in the final of the under-23 mixed 560kg category against England.

• (L) A Scotland supporter cheers on his team in the women’s under-23 500kg category in which they won bronze. (R) Competitors from the Ireland men’s senior 680kg team look anxiously towards the referee for the order to pull.

• Ian Robinson celebrates as the England senior men’s 640kg team win their final over Switzerland.

The sport has aspirations of being reinstated into the Olympic programme one day. Dan McCarthy, president of the Tug of War International Federation, says: “Tug of war is a very basic sport in one aspect, but a highly technical one in another. People have this idea that tug of war is for big, heavy men – unfit men – which is a total misunderstanding of what we’re presenting here. We have different weight classes for men, women, and mixed-gender tournaments, which are becoming very popular because they’re gender equal across the board. If we have any hope of getting into the Olympics, I will be pushing for mixed classes. There is fierce competition here, but it’s a harmony of competition. There’s no malice between teams. Win, lose or draw, everybody shakes hands.”

• A Switzerland team member in the senior mens 680kg category gets a double wet sponge to the face from a coach.

• The coach for the Scotland U23 mixed 560kg team holds out an old pan containing sticky resin for people to use on their hands.

• Members of the Basque Country women’s U23 500kg team shelter from the rain next to a cricket sight screen.

• A Dutch competitor sharpens the edges on the steel plates attached to his tug of war boots.

• A South Africa athlete in the U23 men’s 600kg final, in which they lost to Switzerland.

• The Belgium men’s senior 680kg team on their way to winning bronze.

• The Chinese Taipei women’s 500kg team are welcomed by their supporters after victory in the final over Switzerland.

• José Antonio Goirigolzarri, 65, of the Basque Country collapses onto his back after winning the final of the senior men’s 600kg competition.