David Jakins, also known as King Conker, gained his first men’s title at the World Conker Championships on Sunday after 40 plus years of participating. However, the 82-year-old is currently being accused of cheating by swapping his real conker for a metal one. Jakins was surprised to see that he made national news due to these accusations.
Jim Packer, event chairman, supports Jakins and claims that those accusing him of cheating are “sore losers.” Jakins had a steel conker with him, but the chairman says that he knew this: “Yes, he had a steel conker with him, which we’re aware of…it’s very obvious it’s not a real one.” Jakins apparently carries a metal conker at his tournaments to amuse children: “You get them to hit it with their conker and then their conker breaks and they can’t believe it.”
Jakins says that the allegations against him are “a load of nonsense” and that “it’s impossible to cheat at conkers.” The organisers of the event, which has been held since 1965 and raised £420,000 for charity, are also defending him: “Jakins, previous finalist and long-standing committee member, very much deserves his King Conker title.” Additionally, a spokesperson for the Conker World Championships said that people “managed to find a few of the conkers David won matches with, which he threw into the crowd” which helps undermine the allegations against him.
However, some of his competitors at the event brought the allegations against him because he “obliterated opponents’ nuts in one hit” which they thought was very strange and almost unprecedented. Furthermore, Jakins helped prepare the conkers before the tournament, and the steel conker he had with him apparently looks identical to the real ones. More than 2,000 conkers had been prepared prior to the event.
The tournament organisers are currently asking anyone who took videos of King Conker’s matches to send them via Facebook so they “can analyse his hand movements and his pockets.”
The overall winner of the event was Kelci Banschbach from Indianapolis. She conquered Jakins in the final of the tournament and won the women’s title along with the title “Queen Conker.”
