The Remarkable Backyard League That Inspired International Axe Throwing

In the last twenty years, a new axe throwing phenomenon has erupted onto the world. It is typified by throwing hatchet-size axes, predominantly indoors, at commercial, dedicated axe throwing venues. This axe throwing phenomenon has grown and spread organically throughout the world, as enthusiasts and entrepreneurs have championed it in their localities, but its origins can be traced back to a single backyard in Toronto, the birthplace of the Backyard Axe Throwing League (BATL).

Backyard Beginnings (2006-2011)

“I’m throwing axes in my backyard, if you’re interested come on out” read the email sent out by Matt Wilson to his mates in 2006.¹ Ten were interested and the Backyard Axe Throwing League was born.

Matt Wilson had recently returned from a short break at Turkey Point on the banks of Lake Erie. There, Wilson and his companions had started throwing axes as an evening recreation. He returned home hooked on this new activity.²

Once back in his home in Toronto, Wilson lashed some old planks together in his backyard, bought a cheap hatchet from his local hardware store and invited his mates around for a night of axe throwing and beers.³

Although it was a social event, this backyard axe throwing was competitive from the start, with Wilson creating comprehensive rules for league play. There was no significant precedent for axe throwing competition at the time. There were a smattering of knife and axe throwing enthusiasts and clubs around the world, but it was a diverse and niche activity, often operating with different rules and disciplines from one country to the next, with few international competitions. Often using tomahawk style axes rather then hatchets.⁴ Lumberjack sports are popular in Canada, but rarely included axe throwing.⁵

Instead, Canadian urbanite Wilson turned to a very different sport for his inspiration. He created what he described as “Wimbledon-style” axe throwing, and used tennis as a guide for his new league.⁶ Wilson created a unique new sport that had never been seen before that time. As in tennis, throwers competed head to head to get the highest score per set. Each set was 5 throws on to a simple three-banded target. The winner was the one with the highest number of sets from 3. This format is still used today (with minor modifications) by BATL venues, and also venues following the rules of the International Axe Throwing Federation (IATF).⁷

The new sport went down extremely well in Toronto. The numbers signing up to compete in the backyard league multiplied, so much so that the range needed to be extended into the next door’s backyard.⁸

BATL Expansion in Toronto (2011-2013)

By 2011, the backyard league was thriving. Wilson decided to take on a warehouse in Sterling Road, Toronto, and move his league nights indoors.⁹

This was the very first indoors axe throwing venue, and has subsequently inspired hundreds of other similar indoor venues around the world (often by people who simply like the model, without ever having even heard of Wilson or the backyard league origins).¹⁰

Although being indoors was a new innovation, the league carried on much the same as before. It was still bring your own beer (although consumption was inhibited by the pressure to maintain good season stats).¹¹ There was also the customary invocation of a primal chant, made up by Wilson in the early days of the league.¹²

The new venture encouraged Wilson to take the plunge and go full-time running the league nights.¹³ (Albeit he initially moved into the Sterling Rd warehouse to keep his costs down.)¹⁴

There was also now the grownup stuff like insurance, and price increases to cover the new costs.¹⁵ However, the cost didn’t put off the regular 120 league competitors (or the waiting list of more wanting to join).¹⁶ Two, then three, additional league nights were added to cater for the axe throwing cravings.¹⁷

At this time, another innovation was chanced upon when a league member asked if his work colleagues could have a private throwing session at Sterling Rd. Wilson quickly came up with a price and format for the event. This event proved very successful, and paved the way for more similar events.¹⁸ This new model of privately coached non-league axe throwing became a regular feature of BATL venues, and of other commercial axe throwing venue since.¹⁹

By 2013, the first venue was proving too small to accommodate the growing business and a further Toronto location was opened.²⁰ The new BATL Toronto Port Lands on Villiers Street was about four times the size of the original warehouse with four sets of four target lanes.²¹ It was perfect for the growing private sessions, and also for the continually expanding league nights, which now had up to 210 regular competitors.²²

International Influence (2014 – 2024)

In 2014, BATL began to prepare the ground for expansion. A more formalised management structure was created and BATL Global Corporation was incorporated.^{23 24} Wilson signed a deal with Canadian private capital firm FirePower Capital to fund the expansion, with FirePower’s Brian Simmons overseeing the growth as BATL’s COO .^{25 26}

New venues rapidly opened in Canada. BATL Pickering, just to the East of Toronto, opened in 2014²⁷ This was followed by BATL London (Canada) in 2015²⁸, Ottowa²⁹ and Niagra Falls³⁰ in 2016, and Hamilton in 2017.³¹

In 2017, strategic partnerships helped launch BATL into the USA. Following the opening, in 2016, of the first USA axe throwing venue in Chicago by another organisation (Bad Axe Throwing)³², BATL also targeted the city. Chicagoan Scott Hollander had started his own axe throwing venue in April 2017, after discovering the sport on a trip to Canada.³³ He was approached by BATL that summer, and the result was the new BATL Chicago, with Hollander as the general manager.³⁴

The second USA venue had a similar story. Nashville business student Jonathan League had created a startup axe throwing business, initially as part of his business-school studies. A few discussions with BATL later, and BATL Nashville also opened in 2017.³⁵

By 2018, BATL were soaring. Two new USA venues were opened, in Novi and Scottsdale.³⁶ Most significantly FirePower Capital raised $10M to invest in an ambitious plan to increase the BATL footprint to 100 locations.^{37 38}Further USA venues were added in Houston³⁶,in 2019, and Charlotte LoSo and Plaza-Midwood in 2020. BATL Charlotte LoSo & Charlotte Plaza-Midwood 2020.⁴⁰. Further consolidation was also made in the Toronto area, with Toronto Stockyards in 2019⁴¹ and Vaughan in 2020.⁴²

BATL’s influence on worldwide axe throwing was not limited to just their locations though. BATL inspired many others to get in to this new axe throwing sport, directly and indirectly. Many set out to create their own versions of it worldwide. Some were discernible copies, while many others developed their own distinct brands.

One such new axe throwing brand was Bad Axe Throwing, which launched in Greater Toronto in 2014 (just as BATL were beginning their expansion out of Toronto). This was the first Bad Axe Throwing venue, in Burlington, but, by 2024, Bad Axe Throwing claim to have become “the world’s biggest urban axe throwing club” with 40 locations across Canada and the USA.⁴³

In 2017, Bad Axe Throwing (along with about 20 other axe throwing businesses) founded the World Axe Throwing League.⁴⁴ WATL created their own scoring system and leagues, similar but distinctly different from Wilson’s original ‘Wimbledon-style” leagues. WATL now has over 500 affiliate locations worldwide (although the bulk are in North America) and a regular slot on ESPN⁴⁵

Meanwhile, BATL CEO Matt Wilson and COO Brian Simmons had founded the National Axe Throwing Federation in 2016.⁴⁶ In 2019, “National” became “International” (although technically it had international members from the start) and the NATF became the International Axe Throwing Federation (IATF).⁴⁷

The NATF/IATF was created to promote global axe throwing beyond the confines of BATL venues and it helped export the BATL throwing rules and safety guidelines to a growing number of affiliated venues worldwide. By 2024, there were over 150 IATF affiliated locations in 8 countries (although predominantly in North America.⁴⁸

2024 and Beyond

In 2024, the BATL chain of axe throwing venues now looks pretty much the same as it did in 2020. The ambitious expansion plans were halted abruptly early on in 2020, as it was for many businesses hit by the economic disruption triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. BATL had a tough few years, but gradually reopened all their venues by 2022, although subsequently closing five locations, including the USA trailblazers in Chicago and Nashville.^{49 50}

Having come through the difficult Covid years there seems no reason why BATL shouldn’t continue to thrive (assuming the public interest in axe throwing continues), but BATL Global has not publicised any new plans to pick up on their pre-2020 expansion strategy, and no new locations have been opened since 2020.⁵¹

However, it may be that the IATF will do far more to promulgate the ethos and rules of the backyard axe throwing league worldwide. The 18 BATL locations currently host about 200,000 throwers annually in Canada and the USA. The IATF has a far wider spread across 8 countries, with over 150 affiliated venues (with about 20,000 members),.⁵²

Although separate organisations, BATL and IATF have always been closely linked. BATL provided the substance, manpower and finance to enable the IATF to fulfil its mission. For example, the BATL Toronto locations host the IATF’s International Axe Throwing Championship each year. With the Wilson Cup, being awarded to the hatchet throwing champion.⁵³

Matt Wilson served as IATF Commissioner and BATL CEO.

However, in February 2024, Wilson, announced that he and BATL CTO Chris Collins were “transitioning out of [their] leadership roles at BATL to focus fully on the IATF”.⁵⁴

BATL has already had a huge impact on the sport of axe throwing worldwide. It may be that this decision to focus fully on the IATF will do even more to extend the legacy of the backyard axe throwing league from its humble Toronto backyard beginnings out to the wider world.

Notes

1. Vocaturo, N. “Find Your Groove – Toss an Axe”. Toronto Observer [online]. 13 September 2013 ↩︎
2. Alic, N. “Toronto’s Backyard Axe Throwing League”. Vice [online]. 25 August 2010 ↩︎
3. Alic, 2010 ↩︎
4. See What Happens When Europeans Throw Together – The Pioneering EuroThrowers for a sketch of the throwing scene in the early 2000s ↩︎
5. For example of axe throwing used in Lumberjack sports see Nova Lumberjacks Society website ↩︎
6. Li, X. “Axe Throwing Community in Toronto Continues To Grow”. CTV Toronto [online]. 6 June 2014 ↩︎
7. IATF website. ↩︎
8. Vocaturo, 2013. ↩︎
9. Miceli, C. “Grab Your Hatchets and Prepare For BATL”. Toronto Guardian [online]. 21 January 2014 ↩︎
10. Alic, 2010. ↩︎
11. Vocaturo, 2013. ↩︎
12. Alic, 2010. ↩︎
13. Nelson, C. “Backyard Axe-Throwers Set to Debut in Calgary This Summer”. Calgary Herald [online]. 23 May 2015 ↩︎
14. Scordo, 2018.  ↩︎
15. Scordo, L. “Taking an Axe to Dull Evenings”. The Red Bulletin [online]. 16 May 2018 ↩︎
16. City News Toronto. “Getting Primal With the Backyard Axe Throwing League”. [online]. 17 October 2012 ↩︎
17. Scordo, 2018. ↩︎
18. Scordo, 2018. ↩︎
19. See BATL website for example. ↩︎
20. Armstrong, P. “Axe-throwing league taking aim in Toronto”. CBC News [online]. 4 November 2013 ↩︎
21. Obourn, E. “Backyard Axe Throwing League (BATL Grounds)”. blogTO [online]. 14 January 2014 ↩︎
22. Li, 2014 ↩︎
23. Canada’s Business Registries website ↩︎
24. Bloomberg. “BATL Global Corp – Company Profile and News”. [online] ↩︎
25. Dowden, C. “When axe and ambition meet, it’s BATL time”. Financial Post [online]. 13 September 2013 ↩︎
26. Brian Simmons LinkedIn page ↩︎
27. BATLgrounds.com. “Bold Axe Throwing in Pickering Ontario” ↩︎
28. BATLgrounds.com. “Join an Axe Throwing League at BATL London” ↩︎
29. Duffy, A. “Where the boys (and girls) are: New club is “like darts, but with axes”. Ottowa Citizen [online]. 12 February 2016 ↩︎
30. BATLgrounds.com. “Celebrating 2 Years of BATL Niagra” ↩︎
31. BATLgrounds.com. “Meet BATL Hamilton, The Newest Canadian BATL Venue” ↩︎
32. Bad Axe Throwing. “Axe Throwing Chicago West Loop” ↩︎
33. Gunderson, E. “Looking for a New Hobby? Just Axe”. WTTW News [online]. May 9 2017 ↩︎
34. Voyage Chicago. “Meet Scott Hollander of Backyard Axe Throwing League in Portage Park and Six Corners [online]. February 20 2018 ↩︎
35. Morris, J. “Axe Throwing? Why Not”. The Nashville Ledger [online]. May 4 2018 ↩︎
36. BATLgrounds.com. “BATL Houston is open” ↩︎
37. FirePower Capital. “BATL Closes Series A Round. November 14 2018 ↩︎
38. See Crunchbase.com for details of the funding rounds. ↩︎
39. BATLgrounds.com. “BATL Houston is open” ↩︎
40. batlground Instagram post. 31 January 2020 ↩︎
41. DH News. “You can try axe throwing for FREE in Toronto this May”. [online]. 15 May 2019 ↩︎
42. BATL Axe Throwing Facebook page. 17 January 2020 ↩︎
43. Bad Axe Throwing. “About Us” ↩︎
44. Burlington Post. “World Axe Throwing League, founded by Burlington’s Bad Axe Throwing, searching for champion”. [online]. 30 September 2017 ↩︎
45. WATL website ↩︎
46. BATLgrounds.com. “Advanced Statistics and the IATF” ↩︎
47. InternationalAxeThrowingFederation.com. “About” ↩︎
48. InternationalAxeThrowingFederation.com. “Members” ↩︎
49. BATLgrounds.com. “Axe Throwing 101” ↩︎
50. BATLgrounds.com. “Locations and Hours” ↩︎
51. See BATLgrounds.com. “Locations and Hours” for existing locations ↩︎
52. InternationalAxeThrowingFederation.com “Members” ↩︎
53. InternationalAxeThrowingFederation.com. “Tournaments” ↩︎
54. InternatinalAxeThrowingFederation.com. “Letter From The Commissioner” ↩︎

Pete George Consultant

Pete is an enthusiastic axe thrower and writer. He is currently touring the world researching axe throwing. He also provides consultancy for new axe throwing businesses via AxeThrowingConsultancy.com

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