Cotswold Olympicks

Just one mile northwest of Chipping Campden is Dovers Hill, 184 acres of green space located on a spur of the Cotswold escarpment, giving excellent views over the Vale of Evesham.

On this spot in 1612 a local lawyer named Robert Dover initiated a peculiar competition known as the Cotswold Olympicks, an annual sporting event-cum-fair incorporating traditional Cotswold folk customs such as shin-kicking sack-race wheelbarrow races , Throwing the Sledge-hammer, Spurning the Barre and cheeserolling

The Cotswold Olympicks were banned during the Commonwealth period following the Civil War, reinstated after the Restoration, and again banned by a prim Victorian vicar in 1851. Finally the fair was reintroduced in 1951. The Cotswold Olympicks is held on the first Friday after Whitsun.

While it may be widely acknowledged by schoolboys the world over as a useful form of playground retribution, shin kicking has largely gone unnoticed as an organised sporting activity.

Although not as aggressive as earlier versions, where players were said to have hardened their shins using hammers in over-zealous preparation for the main event, the competition remains the highlight of the Cotswold "Olimpick" games.

Players, wearing the traditional white smocks of shepherds, grasp each other by the shoulders and attempt to land well-timed blows to their opponent's shins. Only then - in mid-kick - can a player attempt to bring his opposite number to the ground.

A stickler, the ancient name for a judge or umpire, is on hand to make sure a shin is hit before a fall can be scored. Competitors must kick their way through early qualifying rounds, and swing their legs in a three-stage final to be crowned the shin kicking champion.

"It's part of the original games," said organiser Robert Wilson, referring to the rural competition. It was vicious in those days, there was a lot of inter-village rivalry and lads used to harden their shins with hammers and were allowed to wear iron-capped boots. We won't permit that. People stuff their trousers with straw and must wear soft shoes. We never have broken bones but there are some bruises."