Mobile phone throwing is actually a national sport in Finland. Competitors meet annually to see who can throw their handset the farthest.
Everyone in Finland is always fantasized about throwing his or her mobile phone at one point or another. Whether it was after a fight with your significant other, being put on hold forever by your mobile provider, receiving an angry text or losing signal during a crucial call, there have been multiple points where we’ve all had enough and just wanted to chuck our phones as a metaphor for whatever problem they currently represented.
There are loads of ‘throwing’ competitions around Finland, from milking stool to baseball cap and welly-throwing competition, but the coolest and most quintessentially Finnish of all has to be mobile phone throwing, held in the town of Savonlinna in summer.
The winner is the one who throws the phone furthest. The challenge seems to represent the Finnish spirit, combining recycling with fun. Not surprisingly, the record holder is a Finn, with an impressive 94-meter throw.
The folks over in Finland have not only created an environment specifically for themselves to play out that fantasy, but they’ve also actually made it into a national sport.
Since 2000, natives of Finland have been flocking to the town of Savonlinna to participate in the Mobile Phone Throwing Championships. The contestants throw phones that have been donated and provided and are not allowed to bring their own devices.
They are, however, encouraged to “choose the phone that fits best to his/her hand or looks the nicest,” according to the official website of the sport. It further explains: “There are clearly two parties in this; some believe that the heavier phones fl[y] further than lighter ones and others think just the opposite.”
There is an official jury panel that determines the acceptability of each throw and approves the results, with absolutely no appeals allowed. The longest throws — 97.73 meters (320.63 feet) are tops thus far — are recorded. Though the rules are presented seriously, the entire concept is somewhat tongue-in-cheek.
“Humor connects people globally and is also part of this sport,” the website pronounces, along with the spiritual freedom symbolized by the throwing of the device and all it represents. After all the fun is over, in a fitting nod to the environment, the devices are then recycled.
