Uppies lead Downies in 'no rules' football series

The Uppies won Good Friday's game - the first of the three-match 2025 series

The first game in this year's traditional no-rules mass football series has taken place in Cumbria.

The 2025 Uppies and Downies series started on Good Friday in Workington, with players from the upper part of the town competing with rivals from the lower end for local pride and to win a specially made ball.

Match ball sponsor Billie Saffill's seven-year-old son Brodhie "threw off" the ball to mark the start of the three-match series.

Friday's opener was won by the Uppies. The remaining clashes will take place on Tuesday and on 26 April.

Ms Saffill said this year's ball was dedicated to Graeme Dixon, known as Willox, who died following a cardiac arrest during last year's series.

Uppie Richard Hodgson said he remembered Mr Dixon for always being in the scrum.

Patrick Carr, a Downie, added: "He was an absolute diamond of a person."

Graeme Dixon died during one of the matches in 2024

Friday's game saw the Uppies clinch victory, with Shane Roe managing to get the ball after the scrum stalled at the cricket club.

The Uppies won last year's series 2-1.

Records of the game go as far back as the mid-1600s.

Originally it was a challenge between the dockers, now the Downies, and the miners, now the Uppies.

To win, the Uppies have to try to get the ball to Workington Hall, while the Downies need to take it to a ship's capstan at Workington harbour.

Uppies and Downies is one of a few surviving mass football games still played in the UK.

Others include the Shrovetide Football game in Ashborne, Derbyshire, and the Ba' Game played in Kirkwall, Orkney.

Shane Roe "hailed the ball" at the Good Friday game

Uppies and Downies in Workington remains the only medieval football game to neither have official organisers nor rules.

Participants turn up for each match at 18:30 at The Cloffocks.

Players do not wear uniforms or identifying colours, making it difficult to know which team they belong to.

There is a gentleman's agreement that cars must not be used to take the ball away from the scrum.

The game is played all across town and the game only ends when the ball is hailed - thrown into the air three times - by the winner.

The Downies will be trying to avoid another defeat on Tuesday

A ball is made especially for each game, with an inscription of the date and the name of the ball maker.

For more than 40 years, it has been made by Mark Rawlinson.

Three families sponsor each of the three balls in the series.

As a thank you, they choose who throws off the ball from the little bridge between the Black Path and Allerdale House, where the game traditionally begins.

The winner keeps the ball as a trophy and becomes a town hero for the night.