A moment that changed me: A WhatsApp message about a little-known sport made me an unlikely celebrity in Japan

‘Fiftysomethings or not, our competitive fires still burned’ … from left: Bill, Neil, Graham and Martin at the Mölkky World Championships in Hakodate, Japan, in August 2024. Photograph: Courtesy of Neil Squires View image in fullscreen ‘Fiftysomethings or not, our competitive fires still burned’ … from left: Bill, Neil, Graham and Martin at the Mölkky World Championships in Hakodate, Japan, in August 2024. Photograph: Courtesy of Neil Squires A moment that changed me Friendship A moment that changed me: A WhatsApp message about a little-known sport made me an unlikely celebrity in Japan I’d always wanted to represent my country at something, so when I learned about Mölkky, I got a team together Prefer the Guardian on Google I t was December 2023 and I was searching in the attic for Christmas decorations when my phone pinged. I pulled it out of my pocket and found a WhatsApp message from my son who was backpacking in Australia. The message read, simply: “You might want to take a look at this” – it was accompanied by a short video clip. The footage was grainy – it was night-time somewhere in Queensland and the streetlights weren’t the brightest – but I could make out Louis and his travel companion Asher throwing what looked like a rolling pin at a collection of numbered wooden skittles. As a sports writer, I thought my knowledge of the games genre was extensive but I was puzzled. This was unfamiliar. In their Santa hats and shorts, with the cicadas chirruping in the background, the two of them seemed to be enjoying the mystery game. Another message came through: “It’s called Mölkky. It’s Finnish. Think you should try it.” The video got me thinking back to a conversation I’d had with a couple of friends in a Leeds pub five years previously. View image in fullscreen ‘A time out from real life’ … from left: Graham, Martin, Neil and Bill pictured before boarding the train from Tokyo to Hakodate. Photograph: Courtesy of Neil Squires We were all turning 50 and to mark the milestone year we had devised a sporting contest – a “50 at 50” challenge. The penalty shootout we had just completed had been event number 34 – if you counted the dominoes. I’d blown my chances with a failed Panenka to allow Martin to extend his lead over Graham at the top. After updating the scoreboard, the conversation had turned to the wider world of sport. The England cricket team had just called up a 32-year-old called Joe Denly for the first time to their Test squad – his age evidently not a barrier to selection. He was 12 years older than his teammates Sam Curran and Ollie Pope. Was there anything out there, we wondered idly, that we might still be able to compete in internationally, aged 50? Like many others, I had always harboured an ambition to play for my country but had been held back by a) working on weekends and b) not being very good. The passage of time had added a third constraint. Given that the three of us were almost 20 years older than Denly, it was slim pickings. We ran through various possibilities but whether it was fitness, strength or the quality of the competition, there were insurmountable hurdles with them all. The topic was quietly put aside for the evening – but the idea never really went away. View image in fullscreen ‘We became unlikely Japanese media celebrities’ … a TV news bulletin in Hakodate, showing Neil and his Mölkky team. Photograph: Courtesy of Neil Squires It turned out, Mölkky was what we had been looking for. The game it...