Pub scramble keeps up hood tradition
Men from neighbouring communities engaged in a good-humoured fight for a leather tube yesterday as part of a traditional competition that dates back more than seven centuries.
People who live in the villages of Haxey and Westwoodside, between Scunthorpe and Doncaster, stage the battle for the Haxey Hood on January 6 every year.
The contest is said to have its roots in an occasion which saw local noblewoman, Lady de Mowbray, lose her hat while out horse riding. Is is thought that farm labourers then attempted to grab the hat, or hood, and return it.
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Hide AdToday, men taking part represent four pubs, the Carpenter's Arms in Westwoodside and three Haxey pubs, the Duke William Hotel, the Loco and the King's Arms, where customers have won the prize for the last three years.