In England, the third before Lent is traditionally celebrated with the consumption of a stack of pancakes.
But at Atherstone, a small town about 100 miles northwest of London, the locals gathered for a more bloody ritual: at 3 pm On the main street of the city, a ball was thrown out of the second story window of a mortgage office and dozens of men dug as they rushed to the top.
They pulled and pushed each other as they were confused for the ball, eventually emerging from the scrum with road rash and swollen faces. A young player smiled at the spectators, revealing a mouth of bloody straps.
This is the game Atherstone Ball, an 826 -year -old tradition in this city of Warwickshire and one of a reduced number of ancient football matches playing all over Britain at Shrove on Tuesday, known as FAT Tuesday in the United States. King John is said to have begun the first match of the city, between Leicestershire and Warwickshire, in 1199, offered a gold bag for the winner, the story goes, creating a frenzied competition whose spirit lives in today’s game.
Locals often say there are only two rules in the game: hold the ball on the main street of the city and don’t kill anyone. In fact, there is a little more than that, the organizers say (and the rule without killing is an exaggeration).
But in its core, the game is simple. Participants kick and carry a leather ball above and below the main street of the city for two hours. In the last minutes, they are struggling for possession of the ball until a Klaxon is heard, finishing the game.
The Winner: Anyone who holds the ball in the end.
To get an advantage, many players organize teams from local pubs, although in the end only one person can come out victorious. Beating, kicking, biting, striking more uses of power, really is a fair game, especially in the frantic last moments, said Noel Johnston, a 57-year-old retired factory worker who served as one of his leaders.
“This game is for men,” he said. (Although women are not prohibited by competition, they rarely do.)
On the day of the game, “friendships can be tested,” Mr Johnston added and “everyone wants to be Alpha Male”. Kyle Crawford, a 28 -year -old man in his spare time, said the participation felt like “the closest thing to get into the ring”.
Before the game, thousands were squeezed along the Long Street, the main street of the city, to watch the action unfold. Students, who received the day for the occasion, adhered to warehouse windows that had been boarded to prevent any damage. Police Drones Buzzed over the head. They, along with a few dozen officers, were there to watch anyone who could use the game as an “excuse for criminal violence”, Warwickshire police said.
As the game started and Scrum fell on the street, Ryan James, who overseered the first aid for the event, did not seem to worry. His company, the choice of choice, brought eight doctors and an ambulance.
“It looks quite brutal,” he said, but the most serious wounds he had faced by the end of the day were a little concussion and a gash head – which he initially said made it look like the victim “had half his head beheaded”, but proved to be a little puddle.
Throughout the afternoon, spectators played their own chicken game with the action, gathering around the mass of competitors, only to run and scream when the ball got very close to them. The soldiers stopped the game every few minutes to let the children kick the ball and put for photos.
“The day itself is a family day,” said Rob Bernard, chairman of the event’s organizing committee. In the weeks that led to the game, the ball is overlooked around the city in pubs, businesses and schools to limit excitement and raise money for charity.
People’s football, as this kind of game is known, started as a pagan ritual and laid the foundations for football and rugby, as well as the American, Australian and Gaelic football, the author Desmond Morris wrote in his book ”
While tradition has died in many places, it has remained an accessory to Atherstone, passed through generations, said Pamela Colloff, who helps manage the city’s inheritance center. Historically, ballgames have been a way for people to launch steaming, have fun and install scores.
“For any kind of friction, it would be quite common to say,” we will be classified on this ball day, “Ms Colloff said. This is especially true during the Bitter Miner’s strike in the 1980s, he said when workers on the opposite side of the strike found themselves facing Ballgame.
Mr Johnston, the commander, said that many foreigners were misunderstood the game, seeing his violence, but not his impetus to the pride of the politician. The game was particularly important now, he said, as the English cities of the working class, such as Atherstone, had a hollow. When she was younger, Atherstone was a busy little town, he said, with a strong pub culture.
“Now, you could shoot an AK-47 straight to the city at 9pm on Saturday night and shoot anyone,” he said, adding an outletive. But not on the ball day, he said holding a pint in a pub that soon had a line flowing out the door.
“We have to cling to our traditions,” he said.
As the clock ran on Tuesday, the chaotic roots of the game appeared. The ball was nailed under a group of players on a sidewalk, and the men began to flock. Occasionally, one would try to climb all over the mob to approach the ball, a multitude of their competitors, while kicking and hitting them.
At one point, a young man climbed into the awning of a brown Costa to align his next attack, but the structure bent under his weight and fell, along with a sheet of metal, to men below. The crowd asked for his approval.
Finally, Klaxon broke. Marcus Cooper, a 31 -year -old manufacturer who had spent 40 minutes at the bottom of the scrum, appeared as a winner. He was “tired, but buzzing,” he said.
His prize? The ball and the worship of the city for the next 12 months.
