Every twelvemonth on Shrove Tuesday together with Ash Midweek , chaotic scenes erupt inward the streets together with streams of Ashbourne inward Derbyshire , England , every bit a mob of rowdy players frantically examine to direct maintain command of an oversized football. The game , too known every bit “hug ball” , has fiddling similarity to football game together with few rules —shoving together with pushing are essential component of the game. Especially peculiar is the size of the playing champaign together with the length of play. The ii goalposts , served past times millstones , are located past times 3 miles apart together with the game lasts for 16 hours spread over ii days.
Shrovetide ball games direct maintain been played inward England since at to the lowest degree the twelfth century. The Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide has been played inward the Derbyshire town since at to the lowest degree 1667 , although the exact origins of the game are unknown became a burn downward at the Royal Shrovetide Committee usage inward the 1890s destroyed all the former records. Now at that topographic point is only 1 macabre version , according to which the master ball was a severed caput tossed into the waiting crowd next an execution. The ball played today inward Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide is , thankfully , made of cork which helps the ball to float when it inevitably ends upward inward the river.
Photo credit: Christopher Furlong/The Guardian
The game is played betwixt “Up'Ards” together with the “Down'Ards”. The Up'Ards are those town members born due north of the town , spell Down'Ards are those born south. Unlike traditional method of scoring where players marking at the opponents destination , the drive hither is to deport the ball dorsum to their ain goal. The ball is rarely kicked , entirely carried , to a greater extent than oft than non moving through the town inward a serial of hugs , similar a giant scrum inward rugby , made upward of dozens of people. Once the destination is reached , which is a unmarried millstone on the banks of Henmore Brook , the ball is tapped 3 times against the postal service for a destination to live counted.
The game starts each 24-hour interval at 2 pm together with terminal until 10 pm. If the destination is scored earlier v pm a novel ball is released together with play restarts from the town pump , otherwise play ends for the day. There is no throttle to the divulge of people who tin transportation away direct maintain component or the size of the playing area. The game takes house throughout the town , although for sure areas such every bit church building together with cemeteries are avoided. Unfortunately for businesses , the streets are component of the playing expanse which forces them to board-up their shops’ forepart to continue belongings harm to a minimum. Getting injured is component of the game. When the together with hence Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) turned-up for the 1928 game , fifty-fifty he suffered a bloody nose.
Photo credit: Will De Freitas/Flickr
Photo credit: Will De Freitas/Flickr
Photo credit: Will De Freitas/Flickr
Photo credit: Will De Freitas/Flickr
Photo credit: Will De Freitas/Flickr