The History of Sporting Activities in the village
The Ancient Sports
You may think that Ancient pastimes would include cricket and stone throwing but Great Eccleston has a darker past more fitting to its rural aspects and its isolation from the large towns of Preston and Blackpool. Great Eccleston’s pastimes iincluded the blood and gore sports of bull baiting, dog fighting and cock fighting. The Square now a quiet area was originally the venue for many of these sports. The village had three fairs a year held in the Square, this was the venue for bull baiting and cockfights, well the public venues. The private ones tended to be held in the public houses, most notably the Bowling Green Public House. So when did this all take place – it was a Georgian sport although it had previously been a sport of Kings. In its time Queen Elizabeth not only attended (not in Great Eccleston) but also took part releasing the hounds to bait the bulls. Nowadays th fun of the fair are rides and side shows then farmers would arrive with a game cock under their arms and a fighting dog by his side.
Some of the fairs ran for three days with regular bouts of bull baiting, dog and cock fighting and even the occasional brawl by the villagers. Much of the revellry came from the rushcarts so it can be assumed that the main ‘fair’ was a Michaelmas (after the harvest). There is a tale that in 1757 James Borrun visited the Michaelmas Fair and vowed never to return. What he saw was barbaric and savage. Bulls lying exhausted on the ground, attacked not only by dogs but beaten with sticks from a baying crowds. He found hand to hand fighting in the barn in the Square (now the dentist). There was also a great deal of drinking from both men and women, many were dancing and others brawling.
Bull Baiting
Following this report bull baiting was organised in a better way. The innkeepers were in charge and supplied the prize money. The contest started by ‘dressing’ the bull. This meant decking the tail and the horns with ribbons. The bulls were then led to the baiting ground to music and drum beating, similar to modern boxing. The bull is then tethered to the central stake by a 6 foor rope. The dogs were allowed to be slipped at the bull a maximum of three times. The more dogs the less the number of slips, fewer dogs and the slips were increased to a maximum of 5. The winner was the dog that brought the bull to its knees by the nose and pinned it there for the longest time. The crowd resorted to stabbing the bull with forks or red hot pokers to rile it up. The dogs were specially bred cross breeds. The sport even had a referee who’s word was final. However anyone who disagreed with this final word often was rewarded with a hefty punch.
The abolition of bull baiting
In 1803 Parliament discussed abolishing bull baiting, but Wilberforce who abolished slavery was all in favour of bull baiting arguing for it to be retained. The Bill was passed and bull baiting started to be abolished. There were other reasons why it died out, it was a time of the Napoleonic Wars and men were needed, the same men that revelled in bull baiting. The last recorded bull baiting took place in the village in 1827. Many villagers were arrested at this event.
It was replaced by sports like, porridge eating and treacle eating !!!
Dog fighting and cock fighting
If bull baiting was barbaric with heavy set farmers, cock fighting and dog fighting was watched by well dressed men and women even the clergy attended. Cock fighting is looked upon as a brutal sport that is unnatural but it is not. Cockerels are designed by Nature to fight each other. If you starve them for a couple of days an then put them in a pen and place food in there they will fight for it. However the fighting has been enhanced by men with steel spurs tied to the animal’s feet top replace the natural spur. Even Westminster had and still has a cockfighting pit.
The Hunt
Another pastie was the hunt which was either trail hunting or fox hunting. It was known for villagers to sneak out of work or church to join the hunt.
Modern pastimes
Great Eccleston has had its fair share of sports in the past. Today it consists of football pitches, a cricket club and a crown green bowling club and the Tractor Pull Arena.
But what of the past sporting activities.
Bowling Green
This goes back as far as the early 19th Century. At one point even the Square has its own bowling green as did the White Bull.
Bandy Wicket
This 18th Century game was probably introduced to the village by the schoolboys of what is now Baines School, then called Hardhorn with Newton School. There is evidence that it was played in the local area from the mid 1700s. This was a forerunner of cricket and involved a wicker gate (hence the name), one batsman and all the rest were bowlers or fielders. The 'bat' was a cross between a hockey stick and a shrpherd's crook and doubled up with the winter game of Bandy- the forerunner of ice hockey. There is not evidence that the winter game was played in the village although there is no reason to doubt that it wasn't. The ball was a rounded stone or baked clay or even a wooden ball.
Cricket Club
Tractor Pull
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