Royal Ashbourne Shrovetide Football
2025年03月31日
This year will be held on Shrove Tuesday 4th March and Ash Wednesday 5th March 2025.
Unlike a conventional football match, Shrovetide Football is much longer than a regular football match and is played over two eight-hour periods. The goals are three miles apart at former mills and there are very few rules. The ball is rarely kicked but instead moves through a giant ‘hug’, not unlike a rugby scrum. There is no set pitch: the game is played throughout the entire town, so shops and businesses board up their windows in preparation!
The game starts on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday at 2pm, when the ball is ‘turned up’ from a stone plinth on Shaw Croft car park in Ashbourne town centre. The ball is thrown into the air and into the ‘hug’ by the ‘turner up’, a respected local person chosen to do the honour. Famous ‘turner-ups’ have included Prince Charles and The Duke of Devonshire.
Once play begins, a large number of players try to move the ball to their goal by pushing against the opposition.
Players must follow the request of medical personnel, marshals and police at all times – and respect the town and its people.
There are records of mass football being played as early as 1667, but Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide’s origins are unknown due to a fire at the Royal Shrovetide Committee office in the 1890s, which destroyed the earliest records
But we know the modern game follows a very similar format to how it would have looked centuries ago, with tradition at its core, and sportsmanship and rivalry at its beating heart.
So, every Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday the town is divided by the Henmore Brook. Traditionally, those born north of the river are Up’ards, and those born south of it are Down’ards.
The match continues until 10pm. If the goal is scored (goaled) before 6pm a new ball is released and play restarts. However, play ends for the day if a ball is goaled after 6pm. To goal a ball the players must first reach the sites of the former mills, and then jump into the river and hit the ball against a mill stone, mounted in a plinth, three times.