Finger pulling, regionally known as Fingerhakeln (German), Trække krog (Danish), Fingerkrok (Norwegian and Swedish), and Sormikoukku (Finnish) is a sport practiced in many regions, predominantly

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

, and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

Rules

In finger pulling, both opponents sit at a table opposite one another and try to pull the opponent towards themselves over the table using one finger. By physical force, overcoming the pain of the finger being stretched and with appropriate technique, the opponent can be defeated. Any single finger is allowed in principle (but not the thumb), but usually the opponents hook their middle fingers in a leather strap. Sometimes, only the index fingers are hooked into each other without a strap. Behind both hookers, two ''Auffänger'' (person who catches the opponent) are sitting. Additionally, there is a referee, a chairman and two assessors.

History

Allegedly, disputes were settled by finger pulling in former times in countries of the Alps and the sport was part of the athletic tradition before a wide standardization took place. In its present form, Fingerhakeln is an organized sport. Leather straps (about 10 cm long and 6 to 8 mm wide), table (79 cm high, 74 cm wide and 109 cm long), stools (40 by 40 cm, 48 cm high), and distance between the middle line and the sidelines (32 cm) are standardized. Every year, Bavarian, Austrian, German, and Alpine championships in different weight and age classes are held. The German proverb ''Jemanden über den Tisch ziehen'' - literally "pull someone over the table", but with the meaning "to defeat, play off against someone" - has its origin in this popular sport in which not only force alone but especially technique can be decisive.

References

External links

"Fingerhakeln – nichts für Weicheier"
Bericht von den 52. Deutschen Meisterschaften in Stötten am Auerberg;

RP Online ''Rheinische Post'' is a major German regional daily newspaper published since 1946 by the ''Rheinische Post Verlagsgesellschaft GmbH'' company, and headquartered in Düsseldorf. The Post is especially dominant in the western part of North Rhine- ...

26 July 2011, retrieved 31 March 2012.
"Hermann Dreher holt beim Fingerhakeln in Stötten den deutschen Seniorentitel"
{Dead link, date=November 2022 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes , all-in.de – das allgäu online 26 July 2011, retrieved 31 March 2012. Combat sports Individual sports Games of physical skill Fingers