Cotswold Shin Kicking
English folk contest at the Cotswold Olimpicks games. Opponents grip each other's shoulders and try to throw one another with shin kicks, and may pad their shins with straw.
Quick Facts
United KingdomCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
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About Cotswold Shin Kicking
Shin kicking is an English folk contest held at the Cotswold Olimpicks games on Dover's Hill near Chipping Campden. According to tradition, the first games were organised in 1612 by the lawyer Robert Dover. The official website of the games states that shin kicking evolved from Cotswold wrestling, in which opponents held each other by the shoulders and tried to trip one another. Opponents start with their hands on the opponent's shoulders and their arms stiff. In this stance they try to unbalance the opponent with kicks to the shins and throw him to the ground. The winner is whoever achieves more throws over three rounds. Competitors may pad their shins with straw from the organiser. The match is run and judged by a referee called a stickler. According to the official website, the games ended in the 19th century because of the enclosure of land and were revived in 1951. Today they are run by the volunteer society Robert Dover's Games Society, and the winner of the contest receives the title of world shin kicking champion at the Cotswold Olimpicks.
History
The official Cotswold Olimpicks website states that, according to tradition, the first games took place in 1612 and were organised by the lawyer Robert Dover, although some sources give as early as 1601. According to the same website, Dover almost certainly took over Whitsun festivities already held at the site. A. B. Grosart, in the introduction to the 1877 edition, claimed that Dover did not found the games but revived and considerably expanded them.
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The poetry collection Annalia Dubrensia, printed in London in 1636 in Dover's honour, describes leaping, wrestling, running and bar throwing. Shin kicking is not mentioned in it. The official website states that the kicking developed from Cotswold wrestling. Tripping, called underplay, changed over the years into kicking, which began to dominate the contest. According to the English Wikipedia, the wrestling matches turned into shin kicking after 1660 and competitors wore boots with densely hammered-in nails. Around the fifties of the 18th century, steel toecaps were common according to the official website. Elsewhere the website already places shin kicking among the games of 1612, and Karen Lyon, writing for the Folger Shakespeare Library (2008), states without citing a source that kicking was part of the games from the beginning. According to the official website, the second period of the games ended in 1862, not because of drunkenness and disorder, as was claimed, but because local interests led by Canon Bourne of Weston Subedge wanted to enclose the land. Discovering Britain, a project of the Royal Geographical Society, and the English Wikipedia give 1852. The games were revived in 1951 during the Festival of Britain. After the foot-and-mouth epidemic of 1952 and the coronation in 1953 they lost momentum, and according to the official website a group from the Scuttlebrook Wake committee got them going again ten years later. Discovering Britain places the revival in 1965, when the Robert Dover Games Society was founded.
How it differs
The official website of the games states that Cotswold wrestling, like Cornish and Cumberland wrestling, consisted of opponents grabbing each other by the shoulders and trying to trip or throw one another. Another combat discipline of the games was backswords, fighting with a long wooden sword and a dagger, which ended when the opponent began to bleed from the head. The English Wikipedia gives shin diggings and purring as other names for shin kicking. It writes that in the textile towns of Lancashire, from the late 19th century until the thirties of the 20th century, disputes were settled by a fight called clog fighting or purring, and that shin kicking was popular also among Cornish miners. Green (Martial Arts of the World, 2001), however, uses the word purring for stamping on an opponent with spiked boots in early boxing.
Technique
According to the official rules, a bout begins with opponents placing hands on each other's shoulders, arms stretched. In this stance they try to unbalance the opponent with shin kicks and throw them to the ground. A kick may target only the shin, and a higher or lower kick means disqualification. If a competitor throws the opponent without lifting a leg and hitting the shin, the throw is awarded to the opponent. In 2026 the BBC wrote that the stickler must make sure the shins are hit before a fall counts. Gareth Way, competing for the second time in 2026, told the press that pushing and wrestling with the opponent make up at least half of shin kicking. The English Wikipedia states that competitors usually kick with the inside of the foot and the toe, and that the loser traditionally cries Sufficient when they have had enough.
Training
Karen Lyon's article for the Folger Shakespeare Library (2008) states that competitors hardened their shins with hammers. The official website mentions that around the fifties of the 18th century shins were soaked in various potions. Today's competitors register on the spot on the day of the games, according to the rules.
Competition
Competitors must wear long trousers or tracksuit bottoms, and they may pad their shins with straw provided by the organiser. Footwear may be trainers, shoes or soft-toed boots. A metal-reinforced toe is expressly forbidden and is punished by immediate expulsion and a ban from further participation. The bout is started, ended and judged by a referee called the stickler, who decides on both fairness and the result. The winner is the one who scores more throws over three rounds. Usually up to sixteen competitors enter, registering on the day of the games directly at Dover's Hill. Pairs are drawn by lot and the winner of the final becomes world champion in shin kicking at the Cotswold Olimpicks. The 2026 winner, according to the BBC, was Andrew Bailey, who competed without straw. He was crowned by three-time champion Mike Newby, the newly appointed stickler.
Today
The games are held at Dover's Hill near Weston Subedge and Chipping Campden. The 2026 edition took place on Friday 29 May, and the official website called it the 414th anniversary. According to the news agency PA, over 2,500 spectators came. The games are organised by the society Robert Dover's Games Society, whose chairman is Tom Threadgill. They are run only by volunteers, and according to the website staging them costs about 25,000 pounds a year, covered by admission fees and donations. Besides shin kicking, the programme includes the Champion of the Hill contest (standing jump, spurning the barre, hammer throw and shot put), team games, tug of war and cross-country running races. The 2017 edition was, according to the then chairman of the society, Graham Greenall, cancelled for lack of volunteers, money and competitors. In 2018 the games were revived.
Did you know
The official website of the Games states that the English expression a stickler for the rules apparently originates in the referee at shin kicking. The stickler held a staff between the opponents and started the match by pulling it away. According to the same website, 10,000 pounds was spent on the first Games in 1612, about 1.2 million pounds in today's money. The British Olympic Association cited the Dover Games in its successful bid for the 2012 Olympic Games as the first hints of British Olympic beginnings. In 2012, on the 400th anniversary, the Olympic committee approached the organisers about a promotional video for the London Games.
Frequently asked questions
How is shin kicking won?
According to the official rules, the winner is whoever scores more throws in three rounds. A throw counts only when the contestant lifted a foot and struck the opponent's shin, otherwise it is awarded to the opponent. A kick outside the shin means disqualification.
Since when has shin kicking been practised at the Cotswold Olimpicks?
That is not precisely documented. The official website of the Games says shin kicking developed from Cotswold wrestling over the years, but elsewhere places it already in 1612. The 1636 collection of poems about the Games does not mention it, and the English Wikipedia places the change from wrestling to shin kicking after 1660.
Who organises the world shin kicking championship?
The volunteer society Robert Dover's Games Society, which organises the whole Cotswold Olimpicks at Dover's Hill near Chipping Campden. The winner of the competition receives the title of world shin kicking champion at the Cotswold Olimpicks.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.