First off, I have no idea how you tried lighting the matches. So this isn't addressed at you. But, this seems as good a place as any to comment that I am noticing that many folks today, especially younger people, have no clue how to light a match, other than an abstract sort of theoretical knowledge. They never have had to! Things many of us take for granted, are no longer "normal."

When I watch them try, they inevitably hold the match at the end (got to avoid that flame) and are surprised when it snaps. Eventually they figure out that won't work. They are totally flumoxed by book matches.

Just FWIW....