The Sedgefield Ball Game is a mob football game played every Shrove Tuesday across the town of Sedgefield in County Durham, England.
According to tradition, the parish clerk is obliged to furnish a football on Shrove Tuesday, which he throws into the market place, where it is contested for by the mechanics against the agriculturists of the town and neighbourhood. More recently, however, it is a secret group of local residents who organise the game, provide the ball and choose who will start the game off. WHELLAN, F. (1894) History Topography, and Directory of the County Palatine of Durham. Second Edition. Great Britain: Hanson & Co.
Gameplay At 1.00 p.m, the game's leather ball is passed three times through a bull ring in the centre of the village. The object of the game used to be to "ally" the ball at two goals at either end of the village. However the ball can not be allied until 4.00 p.m.. due to the expansion of the village it now has only one "ally", which has been slightly moved from its original setting. The ally is a beck at the south of the village. Until 4pm the ball is played around the surrounding villages, and it is a great privilege to get even a kick, as it can get quite physical. The first person to get the ball to any of the local pubs by tradition receives a free drink.
Once the ball has been allied it must be returned to the bull ring in the centre of the village and passed through it three times. The whole task is quite difficult as this is an individual and not a team game.
Winners
A plaque displaying winners can be found in The Golden Lion pub.
Year Winner 2008 Stephen Whitfield 2009 Michael Archer 2010 Lewis Archer 2011 J. Saunders Jnr 2012 Martin Lower 2013 Stephen Flockett 2014 Joe-Louis Fanelli 2015 James Archer 2016 Daz Clemmet 2017 Thomas Adcock 2018 Joe Saunders 2019 Michael Adcock 2020 Paul Johnson 2022 Adam Dovaston/2023Daniel Archer 2024 Harrison Lower 2025 Rob Adcock
The game was cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
See also Royal Shrovetide Football in the town of Ashbourne in Derbyshire, England. Scoring the Hales at Alnwick a small market town in north Northumberland, in the north-east of England. Cornish hurling at St Columb Major in Cornwall
References
External links A report and photographs from the Ball Game in 2005. Shrovetide shenanigans a special Report from the BBC, (February 24, 1998) Hundreds take part in Sedgefield Ball Game Delivery driver wins annual Sedgefield ball game Photographs by local photographer.https://futureproofphotography.weebly.com/sedgefield-shrove-tuesday-ball-game.html