Royal Shrovetide Football
"Two towns, that long that war had raged"
I grew up in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, which is home to the "Royal
Shrovetide Football", a medieval football game played annually on Shrove
Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. The game consists of two teams, the "Uppards"
and the "Downards", which team you belong to depends on where you were born!
The aim of the game is to get the ball to the oppositions
goal, and tap the ball on the goal three times to score. The ball is
carried by the players in a large hug or scrum to the goals, which are 2
miles apart. The ball is "thrown up" at 2pm on both days and the game
starts. If a team scores before 5pm then the ball is thrown up for a
second time in the day. If the ball is scored between 5pm - 10pm then
the game ends for the day, and if no team scores, the game will end at
10pm. The rules are......the ball cannot be carried in a bag or hidden
in a coat etc, it cannot be carried in a motorised vehicle, and
murder/manslaughter is prohibited!! Dozens if not hundreds particpate
each year, with thousands of people come each year to watch the game.
Click here to read more about the history of Royal Shrovetide Football on wikipedia
Find out which team you belong to!