shin kicking

Nothing sums up my experiences growing up than the hype surrounding the “Cotswold Olimpick Games”, an annual summer event that takes place on Dover’s Hill, Gloucestershire.

You, however, might be more familiar with one of the key events that take place during the games, skin-kicking.

Not heard of shin-kicking before? Well have no fear, for this news clip from BBC Points West will explain all in glorious local news fashion.

(Even I was left thinking “what did I just watch?”)

There’s a lot to unpack here in what is almost a 4 minute long video, so let me hit you with what’s going on (my personal highlights are in bold):

00:12 – It’s not a piece of old reel footage unless a random horse suddenly appears
00:29 – What. On. Earth? (I choked on my cup of tea when I first saw this)
00:41 – Local news gets interviewee’s name wrong (#standard)
01:29 – “It’s a part of our heritage that’s nice to keep alive” – in school we were frequently told that it was a stupid sport and told to not do it
01:40 – Already looking considerably more violent than the 1950s version of shin-kicking
02:08 – I genuinely feel a bit sorry for anyone who travels overseas, or makes special effort, to visit the Cotswold Olmpicks. My sister went last year and said it was a load of cr*p
02:35 – Dear Lord, those shin guards! (I couldn’t stop laughing…again). Also, the buttoning up of the suit jacket which I’m guessing is a nervous twitch on the part of the presenter, as if this bloke is seriously going to pelt him
02:44 – “Be careful, because I am a world champion” is a phrase that has probably become very tiresome down Mike’s local pub
02:50 – Demonstration of shin-kicking (otherwise known by Alice’s laugh of “hahahahahaha! This is brilliant, hahaha”)
03:01 – “Do you normally have something down your trousers?”
03:15 – I’m starting to think someone has dared Mike to wear that silly hat
03:35 – The weather presenter completely baffled, like the rest of us, by what he’s just seen