The World Axe Throwing League (WATL) is a global governing body of urban axe throwing.
WATL was founded in 2017 by representatives from Canada, the United States, Brazil, and Ireland. It has 19 axe throwing nations with membership. Members include over 200 member companies (affiliates). It organizes international tournament events such as the U.S. Open, Canadian Open, European Open, the North American Arnold Open, South American Arnold Open, and most notably the World Axe Throwing Championship.
It appoints judges who officiate at all sanctioned leagues and tournaments. It promulgates the WATL Code of Conduct, which sets professional standards of discipline for urban axe throwing.
This day (13 June) was created by the World Axe Throwing League to celebrate, raise awareness and unify the sport of urban axe throwing. Though primarily celebrated with affiliates in WATL, it is also celebrated by anyone with a passion for the sport around the world.
Scoring is a match system where ten axes are thrown per match. The player with the highest points of their ten thrown axes wins the match. In case of a tie, a "sudden death" throw is made for the highest score. Sudden death throws are done until one thrower scores higher than the other. Scoring is determined by where the axe strikes into the target. The WATL targets have a red bullseye ring, followed by five empty rings, and then a blue ring. The scoring is 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 point respectively. Additionally, there are blue dots in the 1 point ring, known as "kill-shot," which can only be used when called, twice per match for 7 or 8 points. Point designation is based on the highest point value the axe touches when it lands and sticks.
In 2018, WATL started working on a tournament format to help include any throwers who could not regularly participate in the WATL axe throwing seasons. This started off by working with a local axe throwing facility in Columbus, Ohio, for the Arnold Sports Festival (also known as the Arnold Classic or just "the Arnold", and named after Arnold Schwarzenegger). As of 2024 WATL has worked with its affiliated axe throwing locations on a tournament circuit where there are dozens of axe throwing tournaments held internationally. These tournaments help players earn spots to the World Axe Throwing Championship just as leagues do.
WATL still directly hosts an annual World Axe Throwing Championship, and typically one other tournament as well, that has varied in name and format over the years.
In 2023 the World Axe Throwing League discontinued the U.S Open in favor of re-branding it as the Pro-Am Championship. This tournament was made to highlight professional throwers as well as amateur ones, in addition to introducing many new styles of gameplay for axe and knife throwing, known as the Skills Challenges.
In 2024 the World Axe Throwing League decided to focus on the amateur competitors with its tournament and rebranded the Pro-Am to the Amateur Championship. The Amateur Championship is aimed at giving newer players a way to experience a higher level of competition without the higher stakes of a World Champion title attached, but with the ability to earn a spot at the World Axe Throwing Championship.
The World Axe Throwing Championship takes place once a year. The format has slight changes from year to year, to be announced before the beginning of the yearly competition. 2018 marked the first time that an axe throwing championship was presented on ESPN.
The World Axe Throwing Championship added duals as a discipline in 2019. Duals is when two throwers are working together as a team to throw a combined score.
The World Axe Throwing Championship added Big Axe as a discipline eligible for a Championship title in 2023. Big Axe is similar to Hatchet, but the axe is much larger and often thrown with two hands.
The Commissioner of WATL heads the World Axe Throwing League.
There are over 300 WATL-affiliated locations in the following countries: