Newsletter Newsletters Events Events Podcasts Videos Africanews
Loader
Advertisement

Royal Shrovetide football: the oldest, largest and most chaotic footy match on earth

Royal Shrovetide football: the oldest, largest and most chaotic footy match on earth
Copyright 
By Euronews
Published on
Share this article Comments
Share this article Close Button
Copy/paste the article video embed link below: Copy to clipboard Copied

We take a look at the latest edition of arguably the world's oldest football competition with the longest playing field.

ADVERTISEMENT

Royal Shrovetide football has been played in England since at least the 17th century and played annually on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.

The latest edition of the event took place this week and the masses turned out to take part.

It is disputed by two teams in Ashbourne, in Derbyshire and is commonly known as ‘mob football’ as hundreds of people take part – in fact there is no limit to the number of participants.

The two teams are known as the Up’Ards and the Down’Ards and the painted ball they play with is made of cork, which helps it float when the chaotic competition ends up in the river Henmore.

The field of play is roughly three miles long and set between two watermills which serve as the goals although due to the length of the pitch and the amount of time most spend in the pub before hand goals are hard to come by – minor injuries on the other hand not so much.

Go to accessibility shortcuts
Share this article Comments

Read more

A look inside Sardinia's mysterious medieval carnival

Ex-Arsenal footballer Thomas Partey granted conditional bail on rape charges

Two further deaths at the Grand National are a stark reminder that cruel horse races must end