QUAINT AND CURIOUS…

Hare pie scramble and bottle-kicking

Locals insist that this unruly 300-year-old Easter Monday celebration between the villages of Hallaton and Medbourne in Leicestershire was the precursor to the modern game of rugby football. Festivities kick off with a tug-of-war and the traditional procession of a hare pie, which is blessed by the vicar before being cut up and thrown to the crowd for ‘the scramble’. The real contest commences with ale-filled wooden kegs or barrels thrown between villagers competing to get them over touchlines in each village. It’s certainly strenuous enough to put any self-respecting rugby forward through their paces.