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Sporty Customs

Here are twenty or so customs involving sports and games – and in many of them people want to WIN. They include Egg Rolling, Flounder tramping, Marbles, Archery, Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling, Skipping, Conkers, Black Pudding Throwing, Hunting the Wren, Bridge Jumping, Loony Dooking, Cricket, Bowls, Greasy Pole, the Boy Ploughing, Orange Scrambling, the Pancake Greaze, Cock Throwing, the Cotswold Olimpicks, Hurling, Smithfield Games and Dicing for Bibles...

Specially coloured eggs for Easter Egg Rolling in hilly Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire, 1981 (These stained and painted eggs were once standard but nowadays chocolate eggs and almost anything else that rolls will do)

Going Egg Rolling in Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire, England in 1966

Going Egg Rolling in Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire, on Easter Monday 1966

Easter Monday Egg Rolling, Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire

World Flounder Tramping Competition at Palnackie, near Dalbeattie, Dumphries & Galloway, Scotland (The dread hand of the insurance companies put a stop to this event in 2008 though locals still tramp whenever they fancy flounder for tea)

A tense moment at the British Marbles Championship,Tinsley Green, West Sussex, 1983

At the British Marbles Championship,Tinsley Green, West Sussex, 1983

At the British Marbles Championships at The Greyhound, Tinsley Green, West Sussex, 1983 (Marbles is popular in Sussex and there are pub leagues and contests)

At the British Marbles Championships at The Greyhound, Tinsley Green, West Sussex, 1983 (Marbles is popular in Sussex and there are pub leagues and contests - this is serious business!)

The Grand Wardmote of the Woodmen of Arden, archery contests held every August in Meriden, West Midlands, 1984

The Grand Wardmote of the Woodmen of Arden, archery contests held every August in Meriden, West Midlands, 1984

A winner is presented with his trophy at the Grand Wardmote of the Woodmen of Arden, archery contests held every August in Meriden, West Midlands, England

The Grand Wardmote of the Woodmen of Arden, an annual archery contest (in this instance for the Silver Arrow), Meriden, near Coventry, West Midlands, England, 1984

Fine costume including ‘a plush seatpiece’ for Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling at Grasmere Sports, Cumbria, England, 1984

Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling at Grasmere Sports, Cumbria, England, 1984

Umpiring the Cumberland & Westmorland Wrestling at Grasmere Sports, Grasmere, Cumbria, England, 1984

May Games by Anthony Walker, circa 1760

Cumberland and Westmoreland Wrestlers at Ambleside Sports, Cumbria, 2006

Memorial to James Polkinghorne, legendary Cornish wrestler, in commemoration of his famous encounter in 1826 with Abraham Cann, champion of Devon.

Shrovetide skipping on Southsands Promenade, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, 1984

Shrovetide Skipping on the Promenade at Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, 1984

Shrovetide Skipping in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England

Vic Owen, King Conker at the World Conker Championships in 2001, Ashton, near Oundle, Northamptonshire, England

Black Pudding Throwing originated in the 19C in this (now demolished) pub, The Corner Pin, in Stubbins, Lancashire (It involves throwing black puddings and Yorkshire puddings, allegedly symbolic of the Wars of the Roses, and still goes on in the area)

The Wren Boys Parade on Boxing Day in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland

The Wren Boys Parade on Boxing Day in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland

New Years Day bridge jump into River Dove from Okeover Bridge, Mappleton, near Ashbourne, Peak District, Derbyshire, England. (This charity event has been going since 1987)

‘Loony Dook’ New Year’s Day swim at Queensferry, Edinburgh, Scotland (‘Dook’ is Lowland Scots for ‘dunk’ or ‘dip’ - the event started in the mid-eighties and now so many ‘loonies’ want to take part that it has become necessary for them to register so potential rescuers can keep track of them!)

Presentation of Horns to the highest scoring batsman at the annual cricket match during Ebernoe Horn Fair, Ebernoe, West Sussex, England, 1995

Former winners of the ‘Knighthood of the Old Green’, forever known in the Old Bowling Green Club as ‘Sir Harry’, Sir Sid’, etc, officiate in formal dress at the 1984 contest, Southampton, Hampshire

‘Knights of the Green’ check results during the annual contest of the Old Green Bowling Club to add another Knight to their number, Southampton, Hampshire, England, 1984

The Greasy Pole at Egremont Crab Fair, Cumbria, 1984

Horse’, in fact the young and not happy sister of a Boy Ploughman of St Margaret’s Hope, Orkney, Scotland, 1984 (The costumes, including halters and ‘feathers’, are handed down in families - but added to each year!)

Colin Scott’s miniature plough making immaculate furrows in the sand to win the contest for the Boy Ploughmen of St Margaret’s Hope, Orkney, 1984

The Mayor of Dunstable at the Orange Rolling at Pascombe Pit on Dunstable Downs, Bedfordshire, on Easter Monday 1968

Preparing for the Pancake Greaze at Westminster School, London, on Shrove Tuesday, 1973 (The pancake is tossed over the bar above)

Scrambling for bits of the pancake at the Pancake Greaze at Westminster School, London, on Shrove Tuesday, 1973 (One representative from each class takes part in the scramble for bits of the pancake)

Throwing the Pancake on Shrove Tuesday in Westminster School, otherwise known as ‘The Pancake Greaze’ and still going on (from Chambers’ Book of Days, published 1862)

Cock throwing on Shrove Tuesday, an outrageous ‘sport’ in which weighted sticks were thrown at tethered roosters until they died - mercifully the custom lapsed in the mid 18th century (From ‘Old England’, published c1860)

Robert Dover’s Cotswold Olimpick Games’ started in 1612 and have continued (spasmodically) on Dover’s Hill, near Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, ever since (From Chambers’ Book of Days, 1862)

‘Heigh for Cotswold’, 1650 (referring to Robert Dover’s Olimpick Games)

Hurling. Seems similar to Irish hurling played to this day. (From ‘Old England’, published c1860)

Maypole, from ‘A Picture of the Manners, Customs, Sports and Pastimes of the Inhabitants of England’ by Jehoshaphat Aspin, 1825

Smithfield Games; Bat and Ball’, from ‘Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair’ by Henry Morley, London, 1892 (Bartholomew Fair was a major London event every August for over 700 years between 1133 and 1855)

‘Smithfield Games; Dice’, from ‘Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair’ by Henry Morley, London, 1892 (Bartholomew Fair was a major London event every August for over 700 years between 1133 and 1855, on the site of the present Smithfield Market)

The Whitsuntide custom of ‘Dicing for Bibles’ in the nave of All Saints, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, England

All Ireland Road Bowling, Cathedral Road, Armagh, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland

Quoits Match at Glaisdale, North Yorkshire

Quoits Match at Glaisdale, North Yorkshire

Shinty, a game akin to Irish hurling and hockey, played still in Scotland (From ‘Old England’, published c1860)