Cheese Rolling canceled for 2nd year

BROCKWORTH, England, March 26 (UPI) -- These are dark days for English cheese rollers, with the Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling canceled for the second year in a row.

The Cheese Rolling Committee, which had planned to turn the event to a two-day festival of Cotswolds life, gave up Tuesday, the Stroud News and Journal reported, because of the backlash over plans to impose an entry fee.

Cheese rolling, which dates back at least 200 years, involves rolling a Double Gloucester cheese downhill while contestants try to catch it.

Richard Jefferies, a committee spokesman, said public reaction was fierce when organizers decided to levy a 20 pound (about $35) entrance fee. He said committee members were accused of making money off the festival.

"People have been spat at in the street, received verbal abuse in shops and at school gates and there has even been talk of bricks through windows and houses being burned down," he said.

In 2009, the event attracted about 15,000 spectators to Cooper's Hill in the village of Brockworth, about three times the number expected. Concerns about safety led to last year's cancellation, and now no one is sure cheese rolling can be revived.