Ashbourne Shrovetide football: Tradition keeping brutal origins of the beautiful game alive(1/3)

Competitors from the opposing teams, the Up'ards and the Down'ards, reach for the ball during the annual Royal Shrovetide Football Match in Ashbourne, northern England, on February 25, 2020. The mass-participation ball game involves two teams, whose players are defined by which side of a small brook that bisects the town they were born, aiming to score a goal, which are some three miles apart. The game, which has very few rules, is played over two 8 hour periods on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Royal Shrovetide Football is believed to have been played annually in Ashbourne since 1667. (Photo/Agencies)

Competitors from the opposing teams, the Up'ards and the Down'ards, reach for the ball during the annual Royal Shrovetide Football Match in Ashbourne, northern England, on February 25, 2020. The mass-participation ball game involves two teams, whose players are defined by which side of a small brook that bisects the town they were born, aiming to score a goal, which are some three miles apart. The game, which has very few rules, is played over two 8 hour periods on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Royal Shrovetide Football is believed to have been played annually in Ashbourne since 1667. (Photo/Agencies)

Competitors from the opposing teams, the Up'ards and the Down'ards, reach for the ball during the annual Royal Shrovetide Football Match in Ashbourne, northern England, on February 25, 2020. The mass-participation ball game involves two teams, whose players are defined by which side of a small brook that bisects the town they were born, aiming to score a goal, which are some three miles apart. The game, which has very few rules, is played over two 8 hour periods on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Royal Shrovetide Football is believed to have been played annually in Ashbourne since 1667. (Photo/Agencies)