Conker champion ‘King Conker’ cleared of cheating as event chairman slams 'sore loser'

It was arguably the biggest alleged “cheating” scandal since a chess grandmaster was cleared of an anal bead scam last year, and now the winner of the World Conker Championships last week – David Jakins - will retain the title after he was cleared of wrongdoing over claims he used a metal conker.

Jakins – also known as ‘King Conker’, we’re not joking – has competed in the contest since 1977 and conquered his final opponent (in every sense of the word) in Northamptonshire on 13 October, giving him his first ever win.

That opponent was 23-year-old Alastair Johnson-Ferguson, who alleged “foul play” because his conker “disintegrated in one hit” and that “just doesn’t happen”.

He told The Telegraph: “Now it turns out King Conker had a dummy steel conker, so he could have swapped his real conker for that one. Or he could have marked the conker strings to pick out a harder nut.

“I’m suspicious of foul play and have expressed my surprise to organisers.”

Jakins revealed to the paper that he was found with the steel conker in his pocket, but that he only carries it around “for humour value” and “did not use it during the event”.

The 82-year-old and top judge in the championships added: “Yes, I did help prepare the conkers before the tournament, but this isn’t cheating or a fix, and I didn’t mark the strings.

“I just tried to hit hard, and somehow, I finally won.”

An investigation was carried out by organisers, who “studied photos and videos of matches, interviewed judges and examined the chestnuts used by King Conker” to get to the bottom of the matter.

A spokesperson told The Guardian: “The investigation found no evidence that the steel conker was used. King Conker has been cleared of suspicion, and his name is being engraved on the trophy.”

Event chairman Jim Packer had rubbished the allegations in comments to the BBC, saying: “Somebody’s a sore loser, I think.”

According to Metro.co.uk, Johnson-Ferguson later back-pedalled on his suspicions and said “there was no way to cheat” in the final.

He added: “All I want to say is I’m sure it was very fair – there was no way to cheat. They don’t really need to do anything else.

“It was completely fair. Just don’t call me a sore loser.”

Oops.

Jakins is reported to have told the Daily Star he was “so relieved” to be cleared of wrongdoing.

“It’s been a stressful week. We are gentlemen at the World Conker Championships and we don’t cheat. I’ve been playing and practising for decades – that’s how I won.

“I admit I had the steel conker in my pocket, but I didn’t play with it.

“I show it to people as a joke, but I won’t be bringing it again,” he said.

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