This past week has been very busy especially on Tuesday and Wednesday as it was Shrovetide. Shrovetide is a tradition where I live which has been a tradition since the 12th Century. Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football is a game played on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday and is played in Ashbourne in Derbyshire. The match is played over an eight hour period and isn't like a normal football match. The goals (Clifton and Sturston) are 3 miles apart and the ball is thrown up from the stone plinth in Ashbourne Shawcroft car park.
The ball is leather and has a cork inner. The ball is thrown into the air and into the 'hug'. The hug is a large group of players, the up'ards and the down'ards and they try to move the ball to their goal by pushing against their rivals. The team you support depends on which side of the Henmore Brooke you were born , if you were born on the south you are a down'ard (I was born on the south so I am a down'ard) and would try to goal the ball at the old Clifton mill and if you were born north of the river you are an up'ard and try to goal the ball at the old Sturston mill.
Spectators come from all over the country and some from other countries come to watch the annual game. Many people follow the ball all day, through fields, the streets of the town and in the river. Local businesses prepare for the game on the Monday by boarding their shops and windows with planks of wood to protect them from the 'hug'.
Each team will have the main players in the hug trying to get the ball off one an other while runners will stand a few miles/ yards away ready to get passed the ball and to run to the goal where a scorer will stand.
The ball is thrown up at 2pm and before throwing it up Auld Lang Syne will be sang by players and the crowd, shortly afterwards God Save Our Queen is sang and then the ball is thrown up. If it is goaled before 5pm then another ball may be thrown up if it isn't goaled by 5pm it carries on going until 10pm and that's when the game stops. There will be about four balls 2 for Tuesday and 2 for the Wednesday. They are each painted by local artists and the person who scores the ball gets to keep the ball and because throughout the game the paint gets worn off it gets re-painted. The reason we have four is if the ball gets thrown up again before 5pm the 2nd one will get thrown up so each scorer will get a ball. There are a few rules such as: Don't trespass on other peoples properties, no going in church yards, memorials gardens or building sites, The ball must not be hidden (it has in the past), must not be transported by a vehicle, the ball is goaled when it is tapped three times onto one of the stone plinths at the goal.
If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask in the comments! Or visit http://www.shrovetide.net/
This Year
Check out this footage filmed by Andy Savage
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