Football is an athletic competition where two teams test their skills against each other in the spirit of good spirit, fair play and respect. In hunting, the hunt forces a fox to be their opponent and hunt the terrified animal down until it is too exhausted to fight back and then kill it with a pack of dogs. In the beautiful game, you wouldn’t leave the competition dead on the pitch. In a real sport, whether winners or losers, both teams walk away alive.

We don’t understand why Chesterfield FC would want to associate themselves with bloodsports 

The Barlow Hunt
 
Based in Dronfield about mid-way between Chesterfield and Sheffield, the Barlow Hunt is never far from controversy.

Recent notable incidents include:

Shocking undercover footage, captured by the Hunt Investigation Team (HIT) in 2018, shows hunt master Chris White laying peanuts into a trap to lure badgers in. HIT stated:

"The hunt master set up this large mammal trap and was filmed by our team each morning and evening coming to check it and add fresh peanuts... Each morning he arrives with his gun to check if any animal has been caught."

HIT continued:

"One night our cameras recorded a badger caught in the trap. Frantically trying to escape, this badger was trapped for eight hours."

The badger miraculously escaped, just before White arrived with his gun. But another trap and a dead badger were discovered on his farm. Badgers are protected by lawunder the Protection of Badgers Act, but that didn't stop White from carrying out his own private cull.

On New Year’s Day 2019, chairman of the Barlow Hunt, Mark Davies, was accused of approaching Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs “snarling with gritted teeth”, grabbing one sab by the throat and then tackling another into brambles. Davies appeared in court, and was later cleared of two cases of assault. His case made national news headlines.

In November 2019, a Barlow Hunt supporter sprayed hunt saboteurs with slurryafter driving his tractor at them.

In December 2019, the hunt was in the national news once again when it admitted to killing a fox. Hunt saboteurs released footage of the hounds attacking the poor creature. The sabs retrieved her body, and then the hunt's terrierman tried to grab the fox off them. Absurdly, the hunt claimed it was hunting within the law, and that saboteurs were to blame for its dogs tearing up the fox!

Just a few weeks later, on New Year’s Day in 2020, hunt master Chris White pleaded guilty in court to using threatening words and behaviour. A video, which also made headlines, shows White riding his horse at hunt saboteurs and grabbing one sab on the head.

In May 2020, Locals Against The Barlow Hunt reported that the police "issued 8 (yes EIGHT!) members of the hunt with CPN WARNINGS (formally known as ASBOS)."