Entire English town plays 'lawless' football match to celebrate Shrove Tuesday

Описание: Residents of an English town gathered on Tuesday (February 13) to play a traditional football game with a twist – there are unlimited players and a three-mile (4.8 kilometre) pitch.

The Royal Shrovetide football match takes place annually over two days in the English town of Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, and organisers say it is the world’s largest, longest and oldest street football game.

Each year as the game takes place to mark Shrove Tuesday in the Christian calendar, shops in the town are boarded up to limit the damage inflicted by the players and the football, and spectators gather on the sidelines to follow the game through the streets, fields and even the river.

Unlike ordinary football matches, there are few rules to the Shrovetide game. Any number of players may participate on the two teams, Up’ards and Down’ards, which represent each side of the town’s river. There is also no time limit for the match.

First-time Shrovetide spectator Sarah Graham said she was pleased that murder and manslaughter were disallowed in the very few rules of the event. “I’m quite happy about that, and that extreme violence is frowned upon,” she said.

During Tuesday’s play, the Up’ards scored the only goal of the game 8 hours in, just before 2200 GMT. The scoring player was awarded with the football and “as much ale as he can consume”, organisers said.

The second day of the match takes place on Wednesday (February 14).