What sort of competitive sports were practiced in Early Modern England?

by dead-ramones

I'm currently reading John Stubb's Reprobates, which includes an account of the Cotswald Games at Dover in 1637:

Men playing at cudgels, wrestling, leaping, pitching the bar, throwing the iron hammer, handling the pike, leaping over the heads of men kneeling, standing upon their hands &c.

While most of these are pretty self-evident, it got me thinking about competitive sports generally in England around the time of the Charles II. So I've got a few related questions:

  1. Were straightforward feats of athleticism the norm, or were more codified games present as well?

  2. How popular were team sports like Cornish Hurling? Were there any team sports that weren't loose analogues of football or rugby?

  3. How regulated would a contact sport like 'playing at cudgels' be? Would it include safety equipment and/or partial contact? Rules and points? Right now I'm picturing two men bashing each other with sticks.

  4. What the hell is handling the pyke?

Thanks in advance. Also, stealth recommendation for Stubb's book. A great collection of overlapping biographies.

Bodark43

You do know that the Olimpics have been revived in Gloustershire? The shin-kicking is probably the most famous event in it, now. Men stuff their trousers with straw for it.