“Kick him! Kick him! Kick him!” the baying crowd chant in unison.On a hill just outside Chipping Campden, a prosperous market town in the Cotswolds, a region 100 miles west of London, two pugilists are grappling with each other as 3,000 spectators roar for more.It is an incongruous scene for such an idyllic part of England.This isn’t a school playground or a street fight, but the Cotswold Olimpick Games (correct spelling) and, to be precise, the evening’s blue ribbon event — the World Shin-Kicking Championships.“It’s absolutely not for the faint-hearted,” says Martin Polley, sports historian and Professor Emeritus in History at De Montfort University in Leicester, England.For over 400 years it is believed that thousands of people have gathered on Dover’s Hill, named after the competition’s founder, the lawyer Robert Dover, each year to witness the spectacle during the Whitsun week. It is a sight for sore eyes — and sorer shins.There are other, less confrontational contests. An individual four-event challenge crowns a Champion of the Hill; six six-member teams compete in the Championship of the Hill, there is a Tug O’ War and cross-country Running Races.But the most prestigious is shin-kicking, a type of wrestling unique to this part of England. Known as Cotswolds wrestling, it was a feature of the original games believed to have been held in 1612, although the rules have evolved to make the kicking element more prominent but less painful.“Nobody’s coming in with steel toecaps or anything. I’m sure back in the day they used to do that,” Polley says.The aim of shin-kicking is to get an opponent on the ground. (Duncan Wood)The rules are simple. The protagonists don shepherd’s smocks (the 18th century precursor to overalls), lock up by grabbing the opponent’s lapels and, on the instruction of the Stickler — the referee who holds a large staff and oversees the contest (the phrase ‘a stickler for the rules’ is believed to have come from this event) — they have to get their opponent to the ground. The person with the most throws over three rounds wins.Balance, strength and coordination are as important as a strong kick.Competitors are not allowed to throw or trip their opponent, but bring them to their knees or on their back by kicking them below the knee and above the ankle. Illegal kicks, deliberate trips and judo throws will be punished with the point going to those on the receiving end.Bouts can last seconds or stretch on for several minutes if there is a stalemate. If a competitor has had enough, but has not been taken down, he or she can end the bout by saying “sufficient”. If there is no outright winner, the Stickler will turn to the crowd, hold up each kicker’s hand and whoever gets the loudest cheer wins.