Bottle Kicking

Bottle-kicking is an old Leicestershire custom that takes place in the village of Hallaton each Easter Monday. It is an outdoor sport played across a mile-long playing area, in which two teams attempt to move a wooden barrel (known as a “bottle”) across the opposing team’s stream at the far end of the area.
Records of bottle-kicking date to the late 18th century, but the custom is thought to originate much earlier, from before the Christian era
Local lore claims that the custom began when two ladies of Hallaton were saved from a raging bull by a startled hare, distracting the bull from its charge. They showed their gratitude to God for sending the hare by a gift of Land to the church on the understanding that every Easter Monday, the vicar would provide a Hare pie, twelve penny loaves, and two barrels of ale for the poor of the village. The Hallaton villagers would fight each other for the food and drink, and on one occasion, the residents of the neighbouring village of Medbourne joined the fray and stole the beer. The Hallatonians cooperated to retrieve the spoils, thus beginning the village rivalry that still exists.

There are virtually no rules to the bottle-kicking, except that there is no eye-gouging, no strangling, and no use of weapons. In the early afternoon, the hare pie is spread on the ground at a dip at the top of Hare Pie Bank, which is possibly the site of an ancient temple.Each bottle is then tossed in the air three times, signalling the start of the competition. Each team tries to move the bottles, on a best-of-three basis, across two streams one mile (1.6 km) apart, by any means possible.
The contest is a rough one, with teams fighting to move the bottles over such obstacles as ditches, hedges, and barbed wire. Broken bones are not unheard-of, and emergency services are generally on standby.
After the game, participants and spectators return to the village. Those players who put in an especially good effort (for example, carrying a barrel across the goal stream or holding on to a barrel for quite some time) are helped up onto the top of the ten-foot-tall Buttercross, and the opened bottle is passed up for them to drink from before being passed around the crowd.
The festive day normally draws to a close with participants and spectators retiring to the pub for drink and banter.
Locals say a visiting grandson took the basics of bottle-kicking back to his university in Rugby, creating the modern game of rugby football. The rugby ball also mimicks the shape of the small beer keg (bottle) used in the pagan event.