Shrove Tuesday 2009
Shrovetide Football - 400+ a side, and 3,000+ extras
Up'ards 0-1 Down'ards (Shrove Tuesday)
Up'ards 1-0 Down'ards (Ash Wednesday)
Made it to Ashbourne for the Shrove Tuesday match. The only hard part was getting up in the morning on a day off work. Bit of a trek - it took 45 minutes to get to the Piccadilly railway station on two feet and a bus. Get tickets and a large espresso sit on a train that snakes around England all the way to Bournemouth. Must not fall asleep, get off at Macclesfield I repeated.
From there I got the 108 little bus to Ashbourne. It's a lovely route over the hills of the Peak Forest countryside. Later one of the people who was going to play for the Upp'ards got on the bus and chatted to passengers about the game. He's dressed in a rugby shirt and is off for a few pints first.
If you ever think of going, and I do recommend it, then don't go as a dorky tourist with a silly backpack and a dropped jaw. It's big crowd of people who swirl about. You needs both hands free, strong boots, cash for the pub and your car parked well out of the way.
Game starts after a speech, singing Auld Lang's Syne and then God Save The Queen. We're in a car park behind Somerfield and it takes twenty five minutes before the ball gets into someone's garden. Hundred people are after it. Loads more are legging round the house to anticipate its travels. By the time I get a new position the ball is at the top of a narrow street. I make a phone call to the Biffa at this point. Had to abandon the chat as the crowd is coming down the hill at a jogging pace. I duck into the side entrance as it runs past Clinton Cards and an Optician's on the way to the Co-op. All the shops are decked out in plywood or have stout wooden planks across their windows.
After 90 minutes the ball has got as far a the traffic lights at the top of the main street. Not that you see much of the ball. When it appears big cheers go up. Unfortunaetly I have to go home soon after this - can't stay here until 2200h, much as I'd like to. Hope to come next year, sort out some accomodation and make a beery two days of it.
The next day I followed the game of Twitter, read all the reports and galleries. I'm hooked.
Ashbourne New Telegraph Report
BBC Derby Picture Gallery
Up'ards 0-1 Down'ards (Shrove Tuesday)
Up'ards 1-0 Down'ards (Ash Wednesday)
Made it to Ashbourne for the Shrove Tuesday match. The only hard part was getting up in the morning on a day off work. Bit of a trek - it took 45 minutes to get to the Piccadilly railway station on two feet and a bus. Get tickets and a large espresso sit on a train that snakes around England all the way to Bournemouth. Must not fall asleep, get off at Macclesfield I repeated.
From there I got the 108 little bus to Ashbourne. It's a lovely route over the hills of the Peak Forest countryside. Later one of the people who was going to play for the Upp'ards got on the bus and chatted to passengers about the game. He's dressed in a rugby shirt and is off for a few pints first.
If you ever think of going, and I do recommend it, then don't go as a dorky tourist with a silly backpack and a dropped jaw. It's big crowd of people who swirl about. You needs both hands free, strong boots, cash for the pub and your car parked well out of the way.
Shrovetide Football from biffadigital on Vimeo.
Game starts after a speech, singing Auld Lang's Syne and then God Save The Queen. We're in a car park behind Somerfield and it takes twenty five minutes before the ball gets into someone's garden. Hundred people are after it. Loads more are legging round the house to anticipate its travels. By the time I get a new position the ball is at the top of a narrow street. I make a phone call to the Biffa at this point. Had to abandon the chat as the crowd is coming down the hill at a jogging pace. I duck into the side entrance as it runs past Clinton Cards and an Optician's on the way to the Co-op. All the shops are decked out in plywood or have stout wooden planks across their windows.
After 90 minutes the ball has got as far a the traffic lights at the top of the main street. Not that you see much of the ball. When it appears big cheers go up. Unfortunaetly I have to go home soon after this - can't stay here until 2200h, much as I'd like to. Hope to come next year, sort out some accomodation and make a beery two days of it.
The next day I followed the game of Twitter, read all the reports and galleries. I'm hooked.
Ashbourne New Telegraph Report
BBC Derby Picture Gallery
Labels: Shrovetide
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