Yahoo Home

STORY: Friendships are set aside in thisferocious, centuries-old football gameLocation: Ashbourne, EnglandThe 'lawless' Royal Shrovetidematch has few rulesHundreds of players compete to move the balltowards goal posts more than three miles apart(Peter Jackson, Spectator)“You can tell the serious ones, the way they dress, their whole body language. Good luck to all of them.”(Glenda Jackson, Spectator)“It’s good for the oldies as well because we can come and see what the youngsters are doing, getting in there in the scrum and everything. It’s a fantastic atmosphere, it really is.”The annual match takes place over two daysMost historians trace the game'sorigins back to the mid-1600s