Shrovetide: The game with 'no rules'
- Published
The Royal Shrovetide Football match takes place every year in the quiet town of Ashbourne in Derbyshire. A football is used but it has little else in common with a usual football match. For a start, it lasts for two days - Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. They play for 8 hours each day!
There are very few rules to the game. Players must keep the ball out of churchyards and the cemetery, it can't be hidden in a bag and it can't be moved in a car. The ball is hardly ever kicked. Players 'hug' it in a scrum as they try to move forward and push the other team towards their goal.
The game starts when the ball (made out of leather with a cork inner!) is 'turned up'. This significant part of the game happens in a... car park! The ball is thrown in the air and into the 'hug' - a large group of players.
The game dates back to the 17th century and the aim is to get a ball into one of the two goals. Sounds easy, right? But they're three miles apart!
There are two teams which are the Down'ards and the Up'ards. Your team depends on which side of the River Henmore you were born. As you can imagine hundreds of people can end up playing!
People come from all over to watch the game and often they'll spend all day following the action - including when it goes through the streets, fields and river!
Local shop owners prepare for the game by boarding up the front of their stores. That's one way to avoid a broken window!
- Published10 May 2017
- Published3 October 2017
- Published6 August 2016
- Published20 May 2015
