Cabbaging, fudging and blocking were all banned as marbles maestros descended on Sussex to vie for the world crown. The sun shone on hundreds of spectators at the 76th World Marble Championships which attracts competitors from all over the world.

The competition was held at its traditional home - the Greyhound pub in Tinsley Green, Crawley - and the game is reputed to have been played in the village since Elizabethan times.

Twenty-one teams of six people competed in the knockout tournament, in which players aim to knock marbles out of a concrete ring measuring 6ft, by aiming larger "shooter" marbles at them. The first team to knock 25 of the 49 marbles out of the ring is declared the winner.

The tournament was marked with the unveiling of a blue heritage plaque outside the pub which was awarded by Crawley Arts Council in recognition of its importance in local history. The Greyhound is now part of the heritage trail.

The contest is organised by Sam McCarthy Fox, 63, and his wife Julia, from Worthing, and for them the little coloured balls of glass are a way of life.

He said: "The competition has been at the Greyhound since 1932 and it has been played in and around the area for hundreds of years.

"We invite teams along who come down and play on a 6ft concrete circle covered in fine sand.

"We have an odd number of marbles so that we never get a draw - someone must always win. A team of six players take it one at a time from each of the teams to knock the marbles out of the middle of the ring and it is the first team to reach 25 marble that wins the game.

"It is a knock out competition, they go on to the next round and we end up with a final."

Marbles is a classless sport and there is no division made on the lines of gender or age.

According to legend, marbles has been played on Tinsley Green for hundreds of years and the marbles season took place over the period of Lent, which is why Good Friday was chosen for the competition date.

Mr McCarthy-Fox, who has a collection of 50,000 marbles, said: "The tournament normally goes on until abut 5pm. It all depends on how many games we can get over and whether we can start on time. We seem to be doing quite well today.

"We have some German friends who come over each year to play for us and this year we also have an Australian team which is ironic because one of our best players, Tom Chamberlain, is actually in Australia at the moment because he did not realise Easter was so early."

Two presenters from BBC 2's Sportsround competed in a team alongside four junior players.