Annual ‘bottle-kicking’ continues 18th-century Easter tradition in Leicestershire

Neighbouring Leicestershire villages competed in “bottle kicking” on Easter Monday, an annual sporting tradition that dates back to the 18th Century.

Participants from Hallaton and Medbourne go head to head to bring a wooden barrel holding around a gallon of beer - the “bottle” - across a boundary stream in their respective village.

Two bottles are filled with beer and the third, called the dummy, is made of solid wood and painted red and white.

Hallaton won this year’s contest by 2-0 in the best-of-three event.

Winners celebrate by being lifted onto Hallaton’s historic stone Butter Cross and the opened bottle is given to players to drink from before being distributed around the crowd.