Category Archives: Sport History

Man vs Horse

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So it’s the final day of the EPL January 2012 transfer window and it looks like it’s going to pass by without so much as a desperate last minute swap so here’s something else to fill the gap – a return to checking out some of the more traditional of British sporting traditions.

Man vs Horse

Man vs Horse

The Man vs Horse race is possibly one of the more sensible events when compared to cheese rolling and shin kicking and it’s not that old either.  It’s relative youth – it dates from 1980 – suggests that the British are still capable of dreaming up silly sporting challenges.

As with some of the best ideas, it emerged from a pub/hotel called the Neuadd Arms in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales when the landlord, Gordon Green, overheard a couple of customers discussing whether, over a certain distance, a man could beat a horse across country.

Mr. Green immediately got to work organising an event which would prove the case one way or another and the Man vs Horse was born.  It’s set over a distance of 22 miles just outside the Welsh town and does include a couple of miles of tarmac.  As one might expect, the horses almost always win and when a runner does it’s a moment of some note.  Aside from the strength issues, the horses also run a slightly different route to help them avoid some of the trickier descents.

Of the 32 events run so far only two have been won by runners; Huw Lobb was the first in 2004, followed by Florian Holzinger in 2007.  Another runner, Martin Cox, won in 2009 but some apparent unannounced rule changes meant that the first horse was given the victory to much derision and anger.

Cyclists were allowed to compete in 1985 and Tim Gould, one of the foremost riders of the early years of mountain biking in the U.K. won in 1989.  Since 1993 cyclists have not been able to compete due to local laws keeping them of the paths and one may cynically wonder if the’ horsey’ set has had something to do with that.

Whatever, it’s a great event and one to put on your bucket list!

 

Shin Kicking & Tar Barrels

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Shin Kicking and Tar Barrels

Once you’re familiar with the insanity of Brockworth Cheese Rolling and Shrovetide Football it’s only another small step to appreciate activities such as Shin Kicking and the Ottery St. Mary Tar Barrrels.  It’s difficult to say whether they are a sport or not but there is competition involved and a crowd so why not?

Ottery St. Mary Tar Barrels

We’ll kick off with the Tar Barrels and Ottery St. Mary is a pleasant enough small town in Devon in the south east of the U.K.  Ottery St. Mary is also home to Pixie Day, but that’s nowhere near exciting enough to compete with the Tar Barrels.

The Tar Barrels event takes place on November 5th each year (Guy Fawkes night) and essentially involves carrying burning, tar covered barrels through areas of the town in what looks to be an astonishingly dangerous activity.  The history of the event is a little vague – it probably originated after the 1605 Gunpowder Plot.  What’s more certain is that at one point, many towns and villages held barrel rolling events but at one point the residents of Ottery St. Mary decided they fancied something more dangerous and what’s more exciting than setting light to a 30kg barrel and carrying it on your shoulders down the street.

Unlike Cheese Rolling, you can’t just turn up and have a go at the Tar Barrels; you have to be a long term resident of the town and the tradition is often carried down with generations of the same family.  Also there are only seventeen barrels in total which are prepared throughout the year with a lining of nice flammable tar – you can’t bring your own.  Check out video:

Shin Kicking

Shin Kicking is an activity that’s so ludicrous it could almost be a made up event.  This ‘sport’ also originates in the south west of the U.K. and dates back to the early 17th century as well.  The Cotswold Olimpick Games featured the sport heavily during it’s on-off existence from the early 17th century to 1852.  It takes place on Dover’s Hill near Chipping Camden and doesn’t usually attract many participants; the crowd’s seem to like it though.

This is no clever name – it does what it says on the tin, two contestants have to kick each others shins until one can take the pain any more and gives up.  In past years it was a much more dangerous event, steel toe capped boots were the order of the day and injuries were common.  Competitors were even known to harden their shins by hitting them with a hammer.

Now contestants must wear soft capped shoes and their shins are protected by straw stuffed down the trousers. Both competitors wear butchers-style white coats and grab each other’s collars before trying to score as many hits on the opponents shins as possible.  A referee, called a stickler, observes the match and determines the winner if one shin kicker hasn’t submitted before the end.  Have a look:

 

 

Brockworth Cheese Rolling

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Brockworth Cheese Rolling

Some time go we wrote an article describing Shrovetide Football, a fantastically exciting, village against village ‘football’ match with a long and distinguished history.  With the lack of any interesting sporting stories leaping off the back pages, perhaps it’s time to check out another insane English tradition, Cheese Rolling. Check it out and then read about it below:

Cheese Rolling actually only takes place in one location, an extremely steep hill called Cooper’s Hill, near the village of Brockworth in Gloucestershire.  In 2008 a reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald quoted a local spectator who described the event as “twenty young men chase a cheese off a cliff and tumble 200 yards to the bottom, where the are scraped up by paramedics and packed off to hospital.”  That’s pretty accurate – a large Double Gloucester cheese is rolled down the 2:1 hill and it’s followed by a number of competitors who chase the cheese down the hill, the first to the bottom (or to catch the cheese) is the winner.

History

Brockworth Cheese Rolling does have a pretty long history, local historians say it dates back around 200 years but that’s about as accurate as anyone can be.  There seems to be definitive details as to the actual origins of the event but local aficionado Jean Jefferies says there are some possibilities; Roman’s are believed to have hurled objects down the slope or perhaps it’s just an odd pagan tradition.  It seems to have been held in Midsummer originally before being moved to Whit Monday and in 1967 it was moved to Bank Holiday Monday at the end of May.  That’s a time of year which regularly sees rain and the race is therefore a muddy affair.

Each your a guest ‘roller’ releases the cheese with the following words:

“One to be ready, two to be steady, three to prepare and four to be off!”

….and away they go, jumping, falling and rolling down the hill, trying to avoid serious injuries and, if possible, getting to the bottom of the hill first.

As global media coverage of the event has brought ever more interest, spectators and competitor numbers have increased and safety concerns have arisen.  In 1997 the number of competitors hospitalised (18 plus a few spectators) meant the following year’s event was halted.  One spectator suffered a cheese-related head injury.

The Health And Safety Myth

Western countries suffer from all sorts of misinformation regarding the supposed Health and Safety laws in their own land and the U.K. is no exception.  Most of the Daily Mail-type nonsense blaming these regulations is just that – nonsense.  Many of the usual media culprits blamed Health and Safety concerns when the event looked in danger of cancellation in 2011.

In fact the problems occurred when the local council wanted to start charging spectators to view the event to pay for security, perimeter fencing and the like.  The locals weren’t interested in any of that nonsense and went ahead without the usual management organisation anyway.

Of course the event went ahead anyway, proving that if the locals want to carry on a tradition which is hundreds of years old, no-one is going to stop them.