Ashbourne’s Royal Shrovetide Football 2022 - the world’s biggest football match.

The annual Royal Shrovetide football game is said to be the world’s oldest, largest, longest, and angriest football game. Last year the game was cancelled owing to the Covid pandemic and organisers asked this year’s participants to take a coronavirus test before play. The game is played between the Up’ards, those born north of the River Henmore that divides the town, and the Down’ards, those born south of the river. The game is played with a hand-painted, cork-filled ball. The pitch is a no man’s land between two watermills, Sturston Mill and Clifton Mill, which serve as the goals at either end of the town about three miles apart. Any number may play in this very thinly refereed game, providing they can claim to be Up’ards or Down’ard’s. The game can last for up many and rarely is there a goal scored. Although this year a goal was scored in daylight which is very rare. Most games end in a nil-nil scoreline, hardly surprising considering the