Competitors get bloodied in brutal 16-hour ball game

One of the oldest games of mass football is underway in Ashbourne, Derbyshire today – splitting the town in two.

Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide 2026 is upon us, and hundreds of locals and spectators from across the region are gearing up for two days of fierce competition.

When the clock struck 2pm, the town, split into two teams – those born north of the river (the Up’ards) and those born south of it (the Down’ards) will try to ‘goal’ at each end of the town.

In between, they’ll face three miles of rivers, fields, and town infrastructure in the way.

Before the game began, hundreds gathered in the Shawcroft Car Park by the Shrovetide plinth, where a rendition of God Save the King and Auld Lang Syne preceded the iconic ‘turning up’ of the ball.

This year, Sir Andrew Walker-Okeover, an Up’ard, was selected to turn up the ball on Shrove Tuesday, followed by lifelong Down’ard and self-employed plumbing and heating engineer Pete Mellor, who turns up the ball on Ash Wednesday.

Once the ball was turned up, the crowd of Down’ards began trying to score a goal at the Clifton goal to the west of the town.

The Up’ards, on the other hand, are trying to score the ball at the Sturston goal, on the east of the town.

Play will continue until 6pm, when the game becomes the next-goal-winner for that day.

If the ball is not scored between 6pm and 10pm, play ends for that day.

The aggregate score over the two days determines the winner. The Down’ards are currently reigning champions, having defeated the Up’ards 1-0 last year.

The Royal Shrovetide Football Match is played every Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday in Ashbourne, Derbyshire – and has been since at least the 1660s.

Shrovetide ball games have been played in England since Henry II was on the throne between 1154 to 1189.

It’s not known exactly when the Ashbourne match started due to a fire in the committee office in the 1890s, which destroyed early records – but that hasn’t stopped locals turning out every year to maintain the legacy.

In fact, the match has only been cancelled three times since 1891: in 1968 and 2001 due to outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, and in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Play starts at a plinth in the town centre, and the ball is moved towards either goal three miles apart via a series of ‘hugs’, not too different from a rugby scrum.

Kicking, carrying and throwing the ball is also allowed, but the match is mainly made up of hugs.

The game starts when the ball is ‘turned up’ from a special plinth in the town centre – and it became known as ‘Royal’ after two kings kicked off the games while they were still Princes of Wales.

King Edward VIII turned up the ball in 1928 and suffered a bloody nose in the fracas, and in 2003 King Charles III threw the ball into play.

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