Finland’s Mobile Phone Throwing Championships

Mobile phones change with almost every passing month.  They are constantly being upgraded with new gadgets and functions and if you want to keep up with the times, you’re always spending more money to get yet another phone.  So what are we, as consumers, to do with all those old, unfashionable technologies?  Some might save them, others recycle them and in Savonlinna, Finland, they turn them into one of the fastest growing sporting competitions in the world - Mobile Phone Throwing.

It’s something we’ve all thought about at one time or another, tossing that annoying mobile as far as possible.  So the Finns decided that they might as well make a competition of it.  Finland, much like Japan, is a perfect place for it as well.  Being one of the top phone-loving nations, they have a tendency to swap out phones whenever something more fashionable comes along, whether the old one is in working order or not.  Thus, they have plenty of “obsolete” models to go around.  Those who put on the competition also cite some other reasons for bringing it about, mainly the belief that tossing phones is symbolic of freedom from always being plugged into the network.  So I guess you could look at it as a sort of therapy?

Whatever the reasons, people come from all over the world for the chance to earn prestige by hurling their mobile.  You don’t get to throw your own phone, unfortunately, as all phones are provided by a company that checks them and makes sure they fit the official competition weight requirements.  And when the competition is done, all the phones are collected and taken off to be recycled.

There are a few different events to look forward to.  The main one is the traditional, over the shoulder throwing event.  There is also a freestyle event in which the judges look not only at distance, but also at aesthetics and style.  For the kids (they all have phones too these days) there is a junior competition.  Currently, the world championship record is a little over 330 feet.

It may sound more like some strange marketing gimmick by mobile manufacturers, some effort to get you to buy a new phone, but it’s a very real and ongoing sport in Finland.  It has become so popular, in fact, that there are national championships popping up all over the world.  The next Mobile Phone Throwing Championships take place on August 24, and if it interests you, you can check out their official website for more information.

Phone Throw photo courtesy of textually.org