Boys who couldn’t or wouldn’t bend all the way over or flinched or whined were despised. You stayed absolutely still at each whack of the plimsoll on your backside. Then when it was over you stood up and carried on with your day as if nothing as happened. No rubbing. Definitely no crying. If you talked about it at all you might tell a friend afterwards that “he really laid it on hard” showing respect for the dominant male that had made you submit to pain and punishment.
At the time it all seemed to be part of learning how men were supposed to behave. Though 45 years later attitudes are so different and we don’t at all respect men who inflict pain on little boys