Villages slug it out in bottle kicking battle

Hallaton scored first against their Medbourne rivals

Large crowds gathered to watch two villages in Leicestershire go head to head in the annual Hallaton bottle kicking contest.

Players from the village faced off against rivals from neighbouring Medbourne for the unusual and ancient Easter Monday tradition.

Huge efforts were made as the teams competed to try to move two of three barrels to the opposition's stream.

"It's been another really exciting one," Phil Allan, chairman of the bottle kicking organising committee, told the BBC, from deep in the field of play.

Two of the "bottles" contain beer, while one is completely wooden - painted red and white - and is referred to as the dummy.

"Hallaton scored first, then looked like they would do it again quickly," Mr Allan said. "It's been really good."

Organisers have said local legend suggested bottle kicking can trace its roots back 2,000 years.

The rough and tumble of the game was preceded by a procession through Hallaton

Alicia Kearns, MP for Rutland and Stamford, said bottle kicking was "an Easter tradition like no other".

In a post on X, she said: "Legend has it that bottle kicking is the game which inspired rugby.

"The historic annual Hallaton Bottle Kicking is an Easter tradition like no other, as the villages of Hallaton and Medbourne battle it out to get three barrels, known as bottles, from the starting field to their own village by any means possible."

The event on Monday afternoon was preceded by a parade led by the Nene Valley Pipe Band and the ceremonial slicing up and distribution of a hare pie.

The winning team celebrates by being lifted on to Hallaton's historic stone Butter Cross, and the opened bottle is passed up for players to drink from before being handed around the crowd.

The fields between Hallaton and Medbourne became a battleground again

Additional reporting by PA Media