A crowd of people fight over a large leather ball, along a wide street in the English city of Atherstone, during the occasion of “Fat Tuesday,” which precedes the religious tradition called “Ash Wednesday” among Catholic Christians.
On Tuesday, February 17, the old market of the city of Atherstone in the county of Warkshire in central England was the scene of a tradition that the English classify as a historical sport, whose beginnings go back eight centuries ago, that is, during the Middle Ages.
Anyone can participate in the competition, which begins at three o’clock in the evening, when shops close their doors and buildings have their windows. It begins with one of the city’s nobles throwing a large ball into the middle of large crowds.
The crowd fights for it for two hours, with the winner being known at the moment the final whistle blows at five o’clock, and he is the last person who was able to keep it.
The Atherstone Ball Game played annually on Shrove Tuesday took place yesterday…
The ball is chucked into the crowd at 3pm. Whoever is holding the ball at 5pm is the winner. pic.twitter.com/C6PH22dYza
– george (@StokeyG2) February 18, 2026
The game is somewhat similar to the popular sport of “rugby” in Europe and the world, or American football, but with a major difference in the regulations, as there is no goal or technical errors framing it.
The security services are keen to organize the “Atherstone Ball”, as cars are prohibited from passing through the main street hosting it.
Any criminal or disruptive behavior is also prohibited for participants, although they use punches and fists to seize possession of the ball in a scene that seems strange to anyone attending it for the first time or even watching it on video clips.
The people of Atherstone enjoy the annual tradition, describing it as a family occasion that must be preserved.
The post “Atherstone Ball,” a religious tradition that turns into a violent sport, appeared first on Al-Akhbariya.
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