Annual medieval football game played in Ashbourne, England
Shrovetide ball goaled by H. Hind on Ash Wednesday 1887 that pre-dates the fire which destroyed the earliest written records of the sport.
The Royal Shrovetide Football Match is a "medieval football" game played annually on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday in the town of Ashbourne in Derbyshire, England. Shrovetide ball games have been played in England since at least the 12th century from the reign of Henry II (1154–89). The Ashbourne game also known as "hugball" has been played from at least c.1667 although the exact origins of the game are unknown due to a fire at the Royal Shrovetide Committee office in the 1890s which destroyed the earliest records.[1][2][3][4] One of the most popular origin theories suggests the macabre notion that the 'ball' was originally a severed head tossed into the waiting crowd following an execution.[5] Although this may have happened, it is more likely that games such as the Winchelsea Streete Game, reputedly played during the Hundred Years' War with France, were adaptations of an original ball game intended to show contempt for the enemy.[6]
One of the earliest references to football in the county of Derbyshire comes in a poem called "Burlesque upon the Great Frost" from 1683, written after the English Civil War by Charles Cotton, cousin to Aston Cockayne, Baronet of Ashbourne (1608–84):[7]
Two towns, that long that war had raged Being at football now engaged For honour, as both sides pretend, Left the brave trial to be ended Till the next thaw for they were frozen On either part at least a dozen, With a good handsome space between 'em Like Rollerich stones, if you've seen 'em And could no more run, kick, or trip ye Than I can quaff off Aganippe.
— Charles Cotton (1630–87)[8][9]
Shrovetide football played between "Two towns" in Derby is often credited with being the source of the term "local derby". A more widely accepted origin theory is The Derby horse race. Whatever the origins the "local derby" is now a recognised term for a football game played between local rivals and a Derby is a horse race.[10][11]
Shrovetide balls typical of those on display in shops and public houses in Ashbourne. These three were on display at the Wheel Inn, Ash Wednesday, 2013. The central ball shows the three cocks that appear on the Cockayne coat of Arms. This image is common to many game balls. To the right is an example of a ball without decoration.
A previously unknown tentative link between Royal Shrovetide football and La soule played in Tricot, Picardy was established in 2012 by history and sociology of sport lecturer Laurent Fournier from the Universite de Nantes. Whilst undertaking a study of "folk football", he noticed that the Coat of arms of the Cockayne family (seated in Ashbourne from the 12th century) painted on a 1909 Shrovetide ball displayed in the window of the Ashbourne Telegraph office contained three cockerels in its heraldic design. He recognised this matched the emblem of Tricot (also carrying three cockerels) where La soule is played on the first Sunday of Lent and Easter Monday. He was welcomed to Ashbourne by the Royal Shrovetide Committee and was a guest at the Shrovetide luncheon. Research into Royal Shrovetide Football's lost history is ongoing (August 2012).[12]
^"Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football". Visitashbourne.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
^England (19 October 2010). "Royal Shrovetide Football, Ashbourne – Google Sightseeing". Googlesightseeing.com. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
^"Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football". Visitashbourne.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
^"Ashbourne Trail No. 25 Shrovetide Football – a Right Royal Game" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
^"Wild in the Streets". Wesclark.com. 18 March 2002. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
^"The Ancient Town of Winchelsea, East Sussex". winchelsea.net. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
^"Sir Aston Cokayne (1608–1684)". spenserians.cath.vt.edu. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
^"Ashbourne, Derbyshire – Shrovetide Football". Ashbourne-town.com. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
^Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Stephen (2000). A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-19-210019-1.
^"Old Firm's enduring appeal". FIFA.com. 2 January 1939. Archived from the original on 22 June 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
^Harrison, Andrew (24 November 2010). "The Origins of the Local Derby" (Blog). Sing Up The River End!. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
^"Shrovetide links to French football game | Ashbourne News". Ashbournenewstelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
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