Festive Manx sport 'with no rules' returns

Crowds are set to gather for the annual match showcasing a traditional ball game with "no rules" and an unlimited number of participants.

The Isle of Man's "traditional national sport" of Cammag takes place each year on St Stephen's Day, with players taking to the field in St John's in two teams.

Participants representing the north or south use a wide variety of improvised sticks, often fashioned from tree branches, to hit a ball, known as a "crick" between goalposts to score.

James Franklin from Culture Vannin said the game was "famously said to have no rules".

"Hockey sticks or otherwise are distinctively discouraged for the game," Mr Franklin said.

"Rather, sticks cut from fallen trees or hedgerows are the prized and the equipment of choice for this sport."

The earliest reports of Cammag in the Manx press date back to 1843, when by-laws were proposed to ban it, though there are earlier written records of the game.

Related to the traditional Celtic sports of Irish hurling and shinty in Scotland, it was considered the dominant sport on the island until as recently as 100 years ago, when football was introduced.

Mr Franklin said it was a "very old sport, which is not only still played, but is growing in the Isle of Man today".

Culture Vannin described the unconventional sport as bearing "obvious relations to hockey, but with very important differences".

The organisation has released a series of photographs of last year's game, which it said offered a "startling presentation of an ancient Manx custom thriving in the island today".

The annual Cammag match is the second of two ancient traditions that still thrive on the Isle of Man each year.

Hunt the Wren, another Manx tradition involving dancing and singing, also takes place earlier on the same day.

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