This video shows the moment a traditional ball game dating back centuries descends into brutal violence as men punch and kick each other in the face in a mass brawl. The one rule of the Atherstone ball game is said to be that you are not allowed to kill anyone.
Thousands of people turned up to take part in the tradition which reportedly dates back to early medieval times. The two-hour long contest is a Shrove Tuesday tradition which dates back to 1199, when the counties of Leicestershire and Warwickshire competed to claim possession of a bag of gold. The aim of the game is to be holding the ball come the final whistle.
A video of the event shows men clambering on top of each other as they are pushed towards the outside of a William Hill betting shop - which was damaged during the competition despite being extensively boarded up like many other shops in the town in preparation for the event. The winning team managed to keep the ball in the doorway of the shop, which appears to be why it was the focus of such violence.
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Men can be seen climbing across the top of the crowd in an attempt to get the ball. Multiple people are seen falling to the floor and have their clothing ripped. At one point a man is seen kicking others in the face while several people throw punches at each other. One man is even seen appearing to be eye-gouged. Stewards wearing reflective clothing can be seen lost among the crowd.
Tuesday saw the 823rd edition held in the Warwickshire market town, with only one year missed since its inception - 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The action has also been restricted to Long Street since the 1970s, before which the whole town was reportedly in play. After the ball, which was dedicated to King Charles ahead of his coronation this May, was signed by some of the competitors, former champion Gaz Jackson got the game underway by throwing it from the upstairs balcony of the Conservative Club at 3pm.
It was very much no holds barred from the male-heavy crowd who swarmed to get a touch of the ball. One man quickly emerged with a massive black eye suffered in the melee.
But they all had to stop for a break in play which allowed the many children in attendance to get involved. After that it was back to all-out war, with the game concluding near the William Hill bookies at 5pm. Once the bodies had filtered away, there was not one, not two, but three winners declared with the title being decided on who has possession of the ball when the final whistle is blown.
Scott Wright, Lewis Cooper and Kieran Marshall told the Birmingham Mail: "It's a group of us, all mates from Atherstone and we all want to win it. If we win it again next year, we'll let all the lads take it until we all get one."
Organisers had issued a warning ahead of the event to discourage people to drink alcohol beforehand. In recent years there have been several incidents. Back in 2020 the ball game was forced to end early after a steward suffered a cardiac arrest, while in 2019 a man was claimed to have lost an ear - though no official record of such injury was made.
It's one of just three medieval games still going, alongside the Royal Shrovetide Football game in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, and Scoring the Hales in the Northumberland town of Alnwick.
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