An ancient custom of "bottle-kicking" in a Leicestershire village is to go ahead this year despite a reduction in police cover. Organisers of the Hallaton bottle-kicking and hare pie scramble threatened to cancel the event after there was no one to marshal it. . . The centuries-old tradition has only been cancelled once in its history - in 2001 because of foot-and-mouth restrictions. It begins with a parade through Hallaton with local people carrying a large hare pie and the three "bottles".
Parts of the pie are thrown to the crowd for the "scramble" before the bottle-kicking begins. That involves two teams, one from Hallaton and one from Medworth, trying to carry three separate "bottles" - which are similar to small beer barrels - to their respective villages. Each game can last more than an hour and at times resembles a huge rugby scrum.
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