Each year on Pancake Day (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday), sports fans in Warwicshire, England are treated to the annual Atherstone Ball Game, a "medieval football" match played in honor of a an 1199 match between Leicestershire and Warwickshire. In that game, two teams competed for possession of a huge ball filled with gold. These days, the ball isn't filled with gold but competition is still, um, fierce. Stores on the road where the two-hour game is played board up their windows in preparation. Below is video of the brawl that unsurprisingly broke out near the end of the game. A fellow named Lewis Cooper was declared the winner of the 823rd Atherstone Ball Game. According to the BBC News, "Police in the county said no arrests had been made in response to reports of violence during the event."
(Thanks, UPSO!)
