It is unclear how this rough version of rugby football began. The most likely theory is that origins lie in some sacrificial game of Celtic times, but it can only be traced with some certainty to an incident involving the first Lady de Mowbray who married John de Mowbray in 1298. One day when she was out riding her hood blew off and thirteen farm workers or ‘boggans’ in the vicinity gave chase to it. When it was finally rescued by the ‘fool’ he was too shy to hand it over, so another boggan (the ‘lord’) gave it to her. Lady de Mowbray was so impressed with this gallantry that in her will she left a piece of land called the ‘Hoodlands’ to the village as long as the inhabitants promised to re-enact the event annually. Consequently, each year on the 6 January the people not only of Haxey, but also of Westwoodside and other surrounding villages, do so. There are thirteen boggans, who wear some scarlet, while the lord and the chief boggan wear hunting pink and the fool the attire of a court jester; the lord also carries a willow wand as staff of office. The participants start with lunch and songs at the King’s Arms, followed by a further bout of singing at the other pub in the village, the Duke William. After lunch, they gather at the mounting stone by the village church where the fool makes a dash away from the crowd and the boggans give chase until he is caught. They then carry him back to the stone where he tells the crowd the legend and the rules which always includes the verse:

Hoose agin hoose, toon agin toon,

If thou meet a man, knock 'im down

But don't 'urt 'im.'

As he is making his speech a pile of damp straw and paper is placed around him, which is then set alight. This is called 'smoking the fool'. After this the lord and his boggans make their way with the crowd to Upper Thorpe Field on the boundary of Westwoodside and Haxey (the Hoodlands field no longer exists). There twelve sack hoods are thrown up. These are known as children's hoods since twenty pence is given to any boy or girl who gets one to either of the two pubs in Haxey, or to the Carpenter's Arms in Westwoodside, without being stopped by a boggan. If he is stopped, the hood goes back to the start to be thrown up again. At about four o'clock a leather hood is thrown up, and a scrum known as the 'sway' forms round it. The teams of men, who can come from anywhere, push against each other trying to get the hood to their favourite pub. Usually several hours pass before the hood reaches a goal, and when it does drinks are on the house. The hood stays in the pub until the following New Year's Eve when it is redeemed by the boggans. Between 1 and 6 January, they tour the pubs in the area to drum up interest in the game. Over the years the tradition has been modified. In the 1850s the smoking of the fool was a much more dangerous affair, and always took place on the following day in nearby villages. A rope was put over a branch of a tree and tied to the fool's waist. A quantity of straw was lit and he was swung through the smoke and fire until he had had enough. The spectators then gave what they thought he was worth. Unfortunately one year they had trouble reviving the fool and so the smoking was stopped.