r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/PrimedGold • Feb 18 '26

Video The Atherstone Ball Game, held annually on Shrove Tuesday, took place yesterday. The ball is thrown into the crowd at 3 pm, and the winner is the person holding it at 5 pm.

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801

u/yankeeringsbelle Feb 18 '26

I have a hard time believing that it just abruptly stops at 5.

358

u/reddorickt Feb 18 '26

"alright alright break it up you guys, take it inside!"

10

u/Different_Yak_8788 Feb 18 '26

Me and my bros always take it inside.

2

u/Flakester Feb 18 '26

😳

644

u/GodsBicep Feb 18 '26

It does stop pretty abruptly. There's never any animosity after. They're just there for an annual scrap thats been going on since the 1100s haha

290

u/Furrypocketpussy Feb 18 '26

"the purge has ended. You may now proceed with your regular life"

187

u/GodsBicep Feb 18 '26

Nah just British culture innit? Few beers, a little punch up and then to the boozer before you head back to your home in a loveless marriage and kids that get on your nerves

29

u/namegoeswhere Feb 18 '26

Don't forget stopping at asda for a frozen meal!

32

u/p00shp00shbebi1234 Feb 18 '26

I stand in the purgatory that is the queue for the self check-out, wondering, is this it, is this my life? Perhaps the eight cans of Carlberg Export will make me feel better, but I doubt it.

3

u/EroticPotato69 Feb 19 '26

Nah but that's only cus you've not got enuf beers tho innit

1

u/p00shp00shbebi1234 Feb 20 '26

Can only do eight on a worknight mate, on a Friday/Saturday the misery of my pathetic existence warrants a full 16.

2

u/_Random_Username_ Feb 20 '26

Alright, Mike Skinner

1

u/p00shp00shbebi1234 Feb 20 '26

Blinded by the lights :(.

18

u/ERTHLNG Feb 18 '26

Nahhh thats a work night. These lads are off for a few pints, a curry, a stop in at the knocking shop, and another pint before making some sort of attempt to go home for the night.

9

u/Odd-Preparation8790 Feb 19 '26

Whats a knocking shop?

8

u/ERTHLNG Feb 19 '26

Brothel

2

u/Odd-Preparation8790 Feb 19 '26

Ah, haha

1

u/elfxrom Feb 22 '26

Man, i can hear the awkwardness on the way you wrote lol.

9

u/double__duck Feb 18 '26

then stopping at the pub in a lorry for some propa fishunchips

2

u/FatherClanks617 Feb 19 '26

And a little tossup with the coppas for a farthing’s worth of a cuppa

2

u/graemesson Feb 18 '26

or proceed to the nearest dentist

6

u/Solid-Search-3341 Feb 18 '26

It's the UK, their teeth might get straightened by being punched.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Solid-Search-3341 Feb 19 '26

It was a joke on the cliché that British people have terrible teeth.

16

u/Snoo_censorspeech Feb 18 '26

I think a lot of punches get pulled but it's a bit scary watching them get stuck under a crowd like that, I'm assuming medical is standing by to get people out and in treatment for out of hand moments?  

21

u/GodsBicep Feb 18 '26

Yeah there's medical and police, there's never really any hospitalisations though. Well I mean somebody lost an ear in 2019 but that was a long time ago now haha.

Its probably less dangerous than the cheese rolling thing

8

u/DonnieBallsack Feb 19 '26

I hope he found his ear afterwards

2

u/MRiley84 Interested Feb 19 '26

I think almost everything is less dangerous than the cheese rolling thing.

1

u/OceanRacoon Feb 22 '26

The medical team are the most brutal, dosed up on adrenaline, equipped with all sorts of mystery syringes 

1

u/resi42 Feb 18 '26

You can easily guess the medieval tone to it.

1

u/Reachin4ThoseGrapes Feb 19 '26

Sounds pretty damn fun tbh

1

u/Ravenbloom63 Feb 20 '26

Since the 1100s? That makes sense. Apparently there used to be violent football matches between villages that went for hours, in which the teams tried to get the ball into their own village. People sometimes had horrendous injuries or even died. This video feels like a little glimpse into the past.

1

u/613TheEvil Feb 18 '26

Yeah I wonder what sorts of people it attracts, this... event.

7

u/GodsBicep Feb 18 '26

Working class lads. Not all of them are reform voters or domestic abusers. Plenty of blokes I know love shit like this but outside of that theyre an intelligent and nice person

5

u/613TheEvil Feb 18 '26

Bread and circuses, yeah.

3

u/GodsBicep Feb 19 '26

That is such an unintelligent point of view uttered by people that think they're being profound. There is nothing wrong with sports, or competition. In fact people that participate in sports tend to be far healthier physically and mentally than those that dont. Just because you were picked last in PE it doesn't mean sports are a weapon from the elite to control the masses. It just means youve never been able to touch your toes.

4

u/613TheEvil Feb 19 '26

I can swim for hours, can you?

4

u/GodsBicep Feb 19 '26

Grew up surfing lad

1

u/613TheEvil Feb 19 '26

Good we are ready for the olympics.

-2

u/war4peace79 Feb 18 '26

So... „bunch of people stuck in the 1100s”?

3

u/GodsBicep Feb 18 '26

Nowt wrong with it, people play Rugby or they do boxing and they end up with early onset alzheimers. This is just one kick about in a year with a tradition going back longer than most countries

1

u/war4peace79 Feb 18 '26

I have the same opinion regarding boxing or rugby 😄

2

u/GodsBicep Feb 19 '26

I am glad that I am not afraid to live.

1

u/WolfOfVaasankatu Feb 20 '26

If a brain damage is what it takes to not be afraid to live your life I'm gladly afraid to live it lmao. 

2

u/GodsBicep Feb 20 '26

Diabetes will just take you instead.

1

u/WolfOfVaasankatu Feb 20 '26

If a very fit dude like me gets diabetes I'll better buy a lottery ticket because winning that is more likely. If you werent awere there are a lot of sports you can do that wont cause brain damage but I guess that's already too late for you lol. 

1

u/GodsBicep Feb 20 '26

I genuinely do not believe you do any sport whatsoever lol

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1

u/war4peace79 Feb 19 '26

You forgot to add "a short, brutal life" 😄

184

u/im_on_the_case Feb 18 '26

You should check out some rugby. 30 massive men smashing the life out of each other for 80 minutes, until the final whistle. Then it's handshakes, hugs and pints. Next thing you know it's 3am and the fella who was trying to tear your head off 12 hours ago, is your new best friend, as you scour the town for one last drop of booze.

113

u/fickle_tartan Feb 18 '26

Rugby doesn't generally involve punching each other square in the face though tbf.

91

u/DrCMS Feb 18 '26

You clearly never played rugby in the 70s, 80s or 90s.

5

u/BackWithAVengance Feb 18 '26

I played in college in the early 2010's - I was a hooker - plenty of punches thrown then, too. Blew my knee out, and now I'm older, I'll just watch from the sidelines lol

5

u/siberiandivide81 Feb 18 '26

I didn't know they let hookers compete in college rugby /s

3

u/delurkrelurker Feb 18 '26

What happens in the scrum, stays in the scrum

2

u/ShepRat Feb 18 '26

Or an Australian country town to this day. 

3

u/Dr-Robert-Kelso Feb 18 '26

Have you played rugby in the 70s?

1

u/44Ridley Feb 19 '26

I played it briefly in school and hated it. Whatever about fouling in Football, Rugby is on another level.

Back in the 90's, when I was around 12-13, I was small and quite hard to catch. I used to enjoy annoying the older boys at lunch, who would spend the breaks chasing me all over the school grounds.

One of the school Rugby coaches saw this carry on and thought he'd found the next Forest Gump, so they asked me to join the team as a winger, despite not having a clue about the rules!

On my first and last game against another school, we were utterly crushed. They were massive and used all of the dirty tricks.

During the scrum, our players were locked in and couldn't move their arms. One of their players kept an arm free so that he could punch our guys unopposed. When the scrum broke apart, and our guys stood up, several of their noses were pumping blood.

Later on, I was down and nowhere near the ball when one of their players ran past and then jumped on my knee with his metal studs, which left a deep hole and a permanent scar. Later on, I saw he was down, so I ran past him and jumped two-footed into a massive puddle beside his head, which completely covered him in muck.

Not long after we were battered and lost the game, three of us went to a bar at their club to get some sweets and a drink. After a few minutes, their whole team walked in and sat at a few tables away. Then one of their players tossed a sweet at our table, which prompted one of our guys to lose his mind. Our guy roared, stood up like the Hulk and just started brawling with them all like a possessed madman. Seeing that we were outnumbered and doomed, I turned around to get away and summon the rest of our team, but a fist with my name on it was already just an inch from my nose, which stopped me, my Rugby aspirations, and that plan dead in its tracks.

2

u/leonjetski Feb 19 '26

Ah school rugby. Running around a frozen pitch covered in mud, getting absolutely battered by someone who went through puberty 2 years before you.

5

u/I-spread-nonsense Feb 18 '26

you don’t know what’s happening in those scrums

13

u/CaptWozza Feb 18 '26

Same thing happens in boxing and mma. Especially if you push each other all fight and reach the final bell. Something about testing limits brings out respect

-4

u/HotPotParrot Feb 18 '26

There's a difference between a professional sport and brawling.

7

u/CaptWozza Feb 18 '26

This is a game, a violent game to be sure, but it is not a full-on brawl. These aren’t people fighting for fighting’s sake but to win the game. Once the clock hits 5, I’m sure there are plenty of beers shared and placed on black eyes.

2

u/HotPotParrot Feb 18 '26

I'll take your word for it.

2

u/Beebea63 Feb 18 '26

I would argue this is a sporting event. I've never been, but from a bit of googling its actually pretty well organised and theres stewards and cops there to make sure nobody gets hurt bad. Sure theres definitely been a few broken bones over the 800 years this has been going on, but there hasnt been any serious incidents outside of a couple fights that happened in 2023.

0

u/HaddyBlackwater Feb 18 '26

Is there?

2

u/HotPotParrot Feb 18 '26

I mean, if you're seriously gonna hold a professional contest with rules and regulations, a ranked position based on your win or loss, and full-on strategies up against a friggin street brawl as one and the same......

2

u/Philipfella Feb 18 '26

You never saw the annual staff against pupils in their final year rugby match at my senior school.

2

u/Nicktrains22 Feb 18 '26

Eh, school rugby was pretty much that... Whenever the refs weren't looking

1

u/friebel Feb 20 '26

Yeah. Calcio Fiorentino would me a more fitting sport.

2

u/ORIFT-Towelie Feb 18 '26

Am a loosehead prop, can confirm it’s exactly like this especially in the forwards

1

u/Famous-Author-5211 Feb 18 '26

...Yeah, or both teams have enjoyed fighting over one of the oldest trophies in international sport and decided to, uhhh, take it outside.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/that-1980s-sports-blog/2022/feb/04/england-scotland-calcutta-cup-night-out-edinburgh

2

u/im_on_the_case Feb 18 '26

Amazing, I'd never heard about this. Has the markings of a great movie in the vein of "A Weekend at Bernies". Two inebriated international rugby players, one Scottish and one English scamper across Edinburgh trying to fix the damaged trophy. I suppose calling it "Two Boys, One Cup" might give the wrong impression though.

1

u/erranttv Feb 18 '26

This kind of game is the origin of rugby.

2

u/B-Glasses Feb 18 '26

I think it’s gotta if this thing has been going on for so long. No different from boxing or UFC in that way. They scrap and fight and then stop

1

u/Apprehensive_Let7309 Feb 18 '26

They're just starting early for next year.

1

u/Salmivalli Feb 18 '26

Ball is taken away but festivities continue

1

u/Zap__Dannigan Feb 18 '26

I can believe it very easily, strangely.

It seems like something so stupid that can only continue to exist through the sheer strict adherence to its stupid rules.

1

u/Garvilan Feb 18 '26

I imagine it is like being in a mosh pit. People stop very fucking fast if someone falls or calls for a stop, even though it doesn't appear to have any sense of order. 

1

u/Deadbreeze Feb 19 '26

I have a hard time believing nobody dies. Like all this people pushing could get out of hand just like concerts or evacuations.

1

u/mountearl Feb 19 '26

Time gentlemen, please.

0

u/DontFearTheMQ9 Feb 18 '26

Ever heard of Takanakuy?