They say that soccer is a gentleman’s game for hooligans, and rugby is a hooligan’s game for gentlemen. But what’s a hooligan’s game for hooligans? 


Well, that would be the Atherstone Ball Game, the 824th annual playing of which was just held this past Tuesday in the town of Atherstone, Warwickshire.




“The game itself has few rules,” according to the Atherstone Ball Wikipedia, “two being that play is restricted to Long Street and participants are not allowed to kill anyone.” Just about everything else flies, and like most years, the lubricated British lads had no qualms including fisticuffs in their playing repertoire, despite the efforts of local police to stop them.


“I live there, and it’s kind of like the Purge,” one person tweeted.



The game lasts two hours from 3 pm to 5 pm, and whoever is in possession of the specially made ball when the horn goes off is the winner. Also known as “medieval football,” the game commemorates a “match played between Leicestershire and Warwickshire in 1199, when teams used a bag of gold as a ball, and which was won by Warwickshire.”


“Even after reading the explanation I have no idea what’s happening,” another viewer wrote.


The game is typically started by a celebrity guest who drops the ball off the roof of a nearby building into the crowd. Children are allowed to leave school early, and local shops are boarded up. “The ball is decorated with ribbons before the game, and prizes are also awarded to anyone who gets hold of one,” the Wiki writes, “as well as to the person who gets the golden penny, thrown into the crowd shortly before the game commences.” No, this isn’t Harry Potter.





Nobody loves tradition more than the British, and it’s nice to see that their cultural practice of going to the pub, fighting in the street, and going back to the pub will be preserved for years to come.