Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake

Sports are an activity the majority of people enjoy. We play in our communities, exercising and passing time with joy. However, sports lose their fun when the pain or injuries come. Running on a sprained ankle or overextended tendon would be as fun as walking on fire. Minor injuries like this are common things in sports like basketball, football, or volleyball. Although pain is a big factor in deciding whether to do just about anything, some people’s love for a sport is so great it overcomes pain. Individuals like these excel in all sports, but they have a chance to prosper in Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling.

Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake is a competition filled with pain-tolerant individuals. Yes, you read that right. People risk breaking bones, running after a ball of cheese downhill. The competition is held yearly at Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper’s Hill, it’s located in Gloucester, England. The competition has no definite origin but dates back hundreds of years, the first-ever recorded competition was in 1826! It was believed to be part of the tradition. Rolling food down the hill would encourage fertility in the land. Locals would burn bushes and roll them down the hill after winter to signify a new year on the horizon. These people really love chasing cheese.

The sport of cheese hill rolling is an extreme sport. Under that predicament, the sport has been negatively affected by stigma. This stigma played a major role in determining the official status of the sport in it's years leading up to 2009. Stigma eventually won as the Cheese Rolling Sport was canceled in 2009 due to safety risks and concerns. In 2010, the sport was banned for the same reasons as 2009 by the government. Despite the fact that the sport was banned, Cheese rolling continued on. Locals stood up and started organizing it on their own. People would attend and participate without the presence of paramedics and officials to regulate the sport and event. During 2010, a group of journalists and local residents hosted a smaller version of the sport in retaliation. The event was an attempt to preserve the sport and its tradition, keeping it alive. In 2011, the sport was revived. Candis Philips and Sara Stevens bought and dressed the cheese rolls in 2011. The sport itself is community-approved, but not officially approved. The sport does not have recognition from any official sports foundation. It is not hosted and controlled by any officials. This makes the sport of cheese-rolling one of the few sports that are kept alive by the community’s efforts. The sport is not legitimate in the eyes of the government, but it is to the community. The sport is the community’s gem to protect, and they are and will continue to do a great job at protecting and preserving.

Work Cited

Earley, Colette. “A Quick Guide to Cheese Rolling, England’s Strangest Sport.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 18 Feb. 2017, theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/england/articles/a-quick-guide-to-cheese-rolling-englands-strangest-sport/.

Accessed 29 Oct. 2021.

‌ITV News. “A Guide to One of the World’s Weirdest Events - Gloucestershire’s Cheese Rolling.” ITV News, ITV News, 24 May 2019, www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2019-05-24/gloucestershire-cheese-roll-what-is-it-safety-and-getting-involved.

Accessed 29 Oct. 2021.

‌[Fig 1] https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids/chris-anderson-makes-cheese-rolling-80067

[Fig 2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper%27s_Hill_Cheese-Rolling_and_Wake