Cheers, laughter and plenty of beer accompanied a nail biting match of one of Norfolk's more unusual sports when it was played out at a countryside pub.

Eastern Daily Press: The world championships for the traditional yet unusual pub sport of “Dwile Flonking” taking part at The Dog Inn at Ludham.Picture by SIMON FINLAY.The world championships for the traditional yet unusual pub sport of “Dwile Flonking” taking part at The Dog Inn at Ludham.Picture by SIMON FINLAY. (Image: Archant Norfolk.)

Armed with sticks, cloths, ale and a chamber pot two groups of competitors gathered in Ludham for the dwile flonking world championships.

The quirky event drew a huge crowd at the village's Dog Inn pub as the flonkers launched beer soaked towels at one another, while leaping around in a circle.

Some say the traditional sport, which sees teams form a circle and jump up and down as an opponent stands in the middle and uses a stick to throw the dripping towels, may have been played in Norfolk and Suffolk since the middle ages. Others believe it was invented by a group of Suffolk printing apprentices in 1966.

But whatever its origins it garnered some modern fans as customers at the pub watched with glee as the teams aimed to give each other a soggy slap with their traditional 'dwile'.

Two teams took part in yesterday's showdown - the Dog Inn Flonkers from Ludham and the Filby Flyers from the village's Kings Head pub. And after a close fought game, peppered with plenty of beer-soaked antics, the Flonkers were crowned the winners.

Sue Hancock, one of the organisers of the championship match, said despite the small number of teams taking part it had been a great day.

'We had a lot of people here watching and joining in the fun and cheering,' she added. 'There was a lot of people that didn't know what it was all about so we went round to explain it to them and they all watched and thought it was great.

'There was lots of beer splashed about and we all got rather wet.'

The reigning champions, the Jolly Rogers from Nottingham, were unable to defend their title due to a wedding, and another team poised to attend, made up of serving military personnel, could not make it having been called on to active duty.

Mrs Hancock added: 'It was all good fun and the camaraderie between the two teams was great.'

The winning Flonkers were presented with the coveted chamber pot trophy and a pennant to hang behind the bar, while the runners up also received a pennant to take back to their pub.

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