By Benedict Tetzlaff-Deas Huge crowds have turned out for a bizarre medieval pub game which begins with a speech from a hooded ‘fool’ in front of a bonfire. The game of Haxey Hood is traditionally held at the start of the year and involves competitors from the villages of Haxey and Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire jostling for possession of a 4ft-long tube – or ‘hood’. The goal is to bring the hood through the crowd to one of the local pubs, and the game ends if the landlord touches it. The hood is then displayed in the winning pub for the rest of the year. Thought to be one of the oldest su…