The Atherstone Ball Game is played annually in the English town of the same name, and commemorates a match played in 1199 between Leicestershire and Warwickshire where the two teams chased a bag of gold around instead of a ball and otherwise tried to kill each other.
The bag of gold is gone, but the brutality lives on in the streets of Atherstone, where a load of local blokes turn out in droves to celebrate the anniversary of the game and beat the bloody hell out of while attempting to gain control of a beach ball looking thing. It’s like a mix between rugby and a prison riot with masses of people instead of teams and punches flying from pissed off crazy hooligans.
Unsurprisingly, a number of brawls broke out among the lubricated participants. and it’s not clear who really won. Some guys did end up hanging from the power lines coming off one of the buildings.
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