Is finger wrestling, practised in the Alps, the last men-only sport?

Men trying to pull each other across the table and wrestling until their fingers bleed - this is the Alpine sport that is still reserved solely for gentlemen.

It involves two competitors, matched by age and weight, sitting across a table and hooking their middle finger into a leather loop.

Once the referee says go, they pull on the loop with their finger to try and drag their opponent over a marked line on the table.

The sport combines finger strength, technique, and a high pain threshold.

Behind each wrestler sits a catcher, to prevent the contestants from falling as they fight to establish who can manage to pull the other over the table to them.

Finger wrestling, known as "Fingerhakeln" in German, is a traditional sport that originated in the Alpine regions of Europe and is now practised in Bavaria and Austria. The sport is less common outside these Alpine regions.

This summer, at an ice rink in Mittenwald, Upper Bavaria, finger wrestlers fought for the title in the 70th championship, each seeking to pull each other across the table.

A test of pain tolerance

The sport can lead to injuries, some serious including finger fractures, sprains, dislocations, and tendon ruptures, due to the immense stress on the finger joints and surrounding tissues.

But the setting looks like any other German summer festival, replete with sausages and beer. Brass band music is playing, and almost everyone is wearing the traditional Bavarian costume, spectators and participants alike.

For men, that means lederhosen, patterned with embroidery, shirts and woollen or cotton socks.

Past winners have names like Foos Franz, Fischer Korbinian, Sturm Gerhard or Sturm Andreas. Their surnames come first, as is often the case in rural Upper Bavarian tradition.

Before the competition begins, the opponents retreat to a quieter corner of the hall. There they prepare themselves by lifting weights with a single finger and rubbing their hands with magnesium to prevent them from sweating or slipping once the going gets tough.

Meanwhile, others who have already completed their competition are receiving treatment for their bleeding fingers.

Contestants enter the championship in one of nine classes. Competitors fight in the light, middle and heavyweight categories as and in various age groups.

A finger wrestling dynasty

And the region is home to several veritable finger wrestling dynasties. Today, the Sturm family from Issing in the district of Landsberg am Lech is celebrating two new Bavarian champions.

In the lightweight class up to 70 kilograms, Andreas Sturm, 34, has won. In the senior class over 60, his father Gerhard, 61, has won. Both enjoyed fulsome support from their son and grandson Hannes, 3.

He too has already started finger wrestling and, knowing it is a tough sport, cheered on his dad and granddad with all his heart.

The two older Sturm men worked hard to win. They practise daily during competition phases. And while others might go on trips to local lakes or to the thermal baths, they don't, in order that the calluses on their fighting fingers can grow undisturbed and not grow soft and fall off.

The women in the family are there too, in order to support them. Unlike in neighbouring Austria, finger wrestling in Bavaria is still purely a male domain. Women are not allowed to compete.

But they may join the club and Monika Wagner is even the secretary of the state association. She may be emancipated, but "women don't have to participate in everything," says the 43-year-old. "It doesn't look nice on a woman," she says, meaning the calluses on her fingers. "And magnesia on a dirndl doesn't either."

The dirndl is the regional, traditional costume worn by women in the area. The dress has a full, wide skirt with a tight waistband. The outfit is in the style of Alpine peasant costume, with a dirndl skirt and a close-fitting bodice.

Why women are still on the sidelines

The reasons women are excluded from the sport are historical. "It has been laid down in the statutes of the Bavarian regional association that, as is traditional, only men are allowed to participate," says Thomas Post, 23. He is the first regional association chairman and thus the organizer of the championship.

Although the statutes are already a few decades old and have been amended from time to time, the exclusion of women has not been altered. "It's more of a male domain," says Post – and women aren't really that interested in it anyway, he adds. "I think men are more inclined to compete against each other, whereas women are less so."

But ask Linda, 29, who is accompanying her boyfriend to the tournament, and she shares a different view. She is enthusiastic about finger wrestling, saying she has found "a completely different culture" there.

Basically, she thinks it is just plain discriminatory that women are not allowed to participate.

She also refuses to accept the argument about damaged fingers, saying, "I play football. If my knees or my foot get injured, it's my own fault. Nobody says anything about that."