The Haxey Hood Game

The "hood" in question is actually a cylinder made of leather, which teams from each of the local pubs try to "sway" in the mannerof a rugby scrum towards their own hostelry. No one is allowed to throw or run with the hood. The game ends after three to four hours when the licensee of one of the pubs manages to touch the hood ­ the key bit being that they're not allowed off their own premises for the duration.

The game's origins are said to relate to an incident in the 14th century when Lady de Mowbray, wife of a local landowner, was out riding and dropped her hood. It was retrieved by a farm worker who was too shy to return it, so he handed it to one of the others to give back to her.

She dubbed the first a fool and the second a lord and donated land for the game to be played on in subsequent years.

There are still honorary posts of fool and lord. The fool is ritually humiliated before each year's game on 6 January; the lord is the game's umpire.

The winning pub keeps the hood until New Year's Eve, when "boggins", local minstrels, process through the village to collect it to be used in the next game.

This year's win meant great publicity for the Loco, but there was a downside: the winning pub has to provide free beer for anyone who wants it for the rest of the day. "When they start taking the Mickey you stop,"says Ahmed.