Cockfighting, cruelty, and Ireland’s history of bloodsports

The renewed growth of cockfighting in Britain is a reminder that the ways of the past are not easily shaken, writes Paul Rouse.

A report from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals found evidence of 60 organised cockfights across England, an increase year-on-year across the previous five years.

Those fights took place in people’s kitchens and sheds and garages and fields, as well as in dedicated cockpits.