COCK-FIGHTING REVIVAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 May 1933, Page 5

COCK-FIGHTING REVIVAL

BIG MEETINGS IN THE NORTH.

LONDON, March 19. Organisers of cock-fighting in Yorkshire and neighbouring counties in the North of England are busy preparing for the season which begins at Easter. Believing that police surveillance has been relaxed, they are said to be planning a series of “mains,” as these cock-fighting meetings are called, on a bigger scale than ever this year. These will take place in lonely spots on the moorlands, the hollows, of hidden valleys forming natural cockpits. Interest in cock-fighting was on the wane in Yorkshire as a result of the unceasing war waged on this illegal sport by the police and R.S.P.C.A. inspectors. Constant watch was kept on persons thought to be interested in it, and isolated places where mains were likely to be held were frequently inspected. The authorities also offered a £lOO reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any of the participants. Cock-fighting still takes place in spite of these precautions, and some prominent business men are in a great measure responsible for the revival;

Fine birds are still bred foi' the purpose not 100 miles from Bradford, and there is a gamecock hospital—.said to be the only one of its kind in the coun-try—-“somewhere in. Yorkshire,” where all will soon, be in readiness for the reception of valuable birds that may be injured during fighting. Here are cured broken wings and wounds inflicted by the steel spurs with which the fighting cocks are equipped. Game cocks owned by men of wealth as well as artisans a,re being secretly trained for the fray.

Heavy betting is associated wtih these meets, and hundreds of pounds change hands at a tourney. As much as £lOO is sometimes laid on a bird. A victorious cock may bring as much as £3O to its owner in one day. Champion birds have been sold for sums ranging from £5O to £lOO. Cock-fighting secrets are well kept. Certainly no one hears of the battlegrounds unless they are “in the know.” The organisation is perfect. “Crows,” or outposts and scouts, with field-glasses, are stationed near the scene of the cock-fights in readiness to give the alarm to the spectators, or to lure the police from the neighbourhood of operations should danger threaten too closely.

POLICE SURPRISE FIGHT. KENDAL, March 30. Five officers of the Cumberland and Westmorland Constabulary and an inspector of the R.S.P.C.A. surprised a cockfight on Whitbarrow Scar, near here, yesterday, and took the names and addresses of about half the thirty spectators. The men will be charged next week-end. The police had been warned that a secret, main” was to be held, and hid in bushes round the cockpit, which has been used for cockfighting for centuries. During the rush to escape after they sprang out, two birds in the ring, both equipped with steel spurs, continued to fight until one had been killed. The other birds were seized. The “main” is believed to have been a championship contest between the Northern English Counties and South-Western Scotland, and it is alleged that some of the spectators had come from Ayr by car during the night.