Inside one of the world's weirdest sports of Cornish Hurling in St Columb

ITV News' Charlotte Gay went along to the Shrove Tuesday game of Hurling in St Columb.

There are many unusual traditions that have lived on for centuries in Cornwall and perhaps the game of "Hurling the Silverball" is one of the strangest.

The ancient sport used to be played in towns and villages across the peninsular but just two towns are known to continue to play the game. One on Feast Day for St Ives and more recently on Shrove Tuesday in St Columb.

There are variations on the rules between the towns but for the adults game in mid Cornwall two teams, town versus country, compete to carry the ball over the parish boundary a mile away from the start.

Colin Rescorla is the third generation to make the silver ball needed for the game. He says there is "considerable glory" in winning the ball and outsiders are in "total disbelief" at the chaos of the rough game.

"There are no rules other than you don't ride on a vehicle and if you are told to give up the ball you do."

The ball is made from a core of applewood and covered by two sides of silver with the words "TOWN AND COUNTRY DO YOUR BEST" engraved on the centre band.

Colin has noticed more players want to keep their winning ball but it comes with a four figure price-tag.

"It is unlikely now that a ball will be hurled more than 6 or 7 times. Depends on whether the person can afford to buy a new one.

Jeremy Annear is an artist who owns a gallery opposite the starting point for the game. He like many shop owners in the town always boards up his windows to make sure no accidents happen.

"All can go anywhere and it's a heavy silverball, so it's much cheaper to put this up than to possibly run into paying for a replacement glass."

Describing the game as a "real brawl" Jeremy says it is 'it's tougher than a game of rugby."

"People do get hurt occasionally using a few black eyes, bloody noses, black eyes and a few limp away, deciding not to continue with [the game]."

Ben Lomax won the ball last year for Team Country.

He thinks it's getting "tamer" but admits that's not how it looks to outsiders.

"For someone who has never been here they'd probably see it as quite rough but it's not so bad when you've done a few years of it and get stuck in."

This year the players were encouraged to keep the ball in the town for the first hour of the game before making a dash for the winning goal.

It is supposedly lucky to get a touch on the ball, so many spectators were offered a chance to pass it around before the competition hotted up.

At the end of the Shrove Tuesday game 'Team Town' held on to the ball over the parish boundary but there's a second leg to this year's competition on the Saturday 24 February 2024.