Uffington 2007 No less can be said than our AOBC Ltd Inter club UK final which was held at the Uffington White Horse Show in August was a triumphant success! Our thanks go out to the White Horse Show committee for inviting us to hold our UK final in such an ancient and renowned place for English Country Backswording. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all the AOBC members that came down to Uffington for the weekend and helped out in the arena, at the camp, talking to members of the public about the sport of Backswording and HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) and who generally got stuck in where and when needed. Everyone even went to the extent of dressing the part to give the occasion a real taste of living history. Finally I would also like to thank the audience that rose to the occasion over the weekend and cheered their favourite Crack Cudgel Players on. We have also had several emails in from people who were in the audience and wanted to let us know how much they enjoyed the tournament, one lady emailed in and told us how she has been interested in the books ‘The Scouring of The White Horse’ and ‘Tom Brown’s school days’ for many years and to see the Backswording for real was ‘Thrilling!’, high praise indeed. We are also very honoured that the Museum at Uffington has agreed to place the Uffington Backswording Cup on show and to allow the cup to stay permanently at the museum as part of the local history exhibition and that above all else was what touched each and every finalist, the fact that they were bringing Backswording back to its roots and following in the footsteps of our good old country forefathers and they themselves had become part of our English country history. The tournament arena was over looked by White Horse Hill and that really hit home to us all how special it was to be fighting there. Most of the finalists took a moment before the start of the event to go up on to the hill and stand in Uffington Castle, the original home of the past times. Many took their cudgels and had a warm up session in the castle which was electrifying to say the least. It is important to point out that what we do is not re-enactment, it is not choreographed and it is not theatrical in any way. This is full on English Country Backswording at its best and although you will see from the photos of the event that AOBC members wore an array of period costume this was to pay homage to the crack cudgel players of yesteryear and to place it in its historical context for the public. The finalist for the weekend were: Andy Hobbs Emma Boast Tina Holland Craig Tindall Steve Williams Chaz Albrighton Tony Mager Steve Scurfield Chief Stickler was: Peter Holland The bouts were fought hard and fast, shouts for each of the 8 players filled the surrounding countryside as did the traditional calls of ‘BLOOD, BLOOD, BLOOD!’. The third place bout for the Bronze medal was between Chaz Albrighton and Craig Tindall, the winner being Chaz ‘The Groo’ Albrighton. The final which was to decide who was to take home the Silver medal and who would take home the Gold medal and the Uffington Backswording Cup was between Steve Williams and Steven Scurfield. The winner after an extremely energetic and hard fight was Steve ‘The Bulldog’ Williams who took the Gold and the Uffington Backswording Cup and the runner up was Steve ‘The Surgeon’ Scurfield who took Silver. We are proud to say that the event was so well received that the committee has invited us back to play for the cup again in August 2008 so if you were not there this year be there next year! Please click here to view more photos from the AOBC Uffington Backswording Tournament
