– As the crowd roars, cage fighters aged 8 and 9 do battle… even after one breaks down in tears (but police say they won’t take action against it) (Daily Mail, Sep. 22, 2011):
Organisers defend ‘barbaric’ event as ‘perfectly legal’ Video footage shows children battling on the floor without head guards
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt condemns the underage contests Child safety experts call for ban and urge social work to be brought in Police will take no action against the organisers of ‘barbaric’ cage fighting involving children as young as eight, it was confirmed today.
Concerns were raised about whether two boys were put at risk by taking part in a bout at Greenlands Labour Club in Preston, Lancashire, in front of a 250-strong adult audience.
But a spokesman for Lancashire Police said today the force had ‘looked into this matter fully and there are no issues for us to pursue’.
Kicking, shoving and grappling each other to the floor, the youngsters were filmed competing in cage fighting contests in front of a baying mob of hundreds of adults enjoying a night’s entertainment.
These shocking images show the primary school-age boys fighting with no padding, headguards or protection of any kind in what critics have described as ‘like a circus performance’.