Saint John's Day Football
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Eastertide has begun and with that comes important traditions across the Christian world.
Undoubtedly, each one of you reading this has your own special traditions for the next 50 days that definitely deserve their own featured articles.
But today, we look into one of the most unique Easter traditions coming out of the northwest of England: Workington in Cumbria.
In this seaside town, football is a very special sport and it presents itself in many forms.
The modern-versions see soccer and rugby taking hold, especially the Northern England specialty of rugby league football (13 v.s. 13) where Cumbrians have dominated for over a century.
However, digging deeper into the story of the blue collar town is football's origin: mob football.
Workington has an ancient football game that influenced all of our footballs today from the one Tom Brady mastered to the one Pelé dominated.
Children of Workington and nearby settlements like Whitehaven and Maryport undoubtedly wish to put on their nations' uniforms and favorite teams in professional soccer, rugby, and other sports, but they also wish to play Uppies and Downies, their own football game developed a long time ago.
Uppies and Downies is a version of medieval football called the Ba' Game found in the Borderlands region of Scotland and England.
The rules are quite simple. There are two goals at either end of Workington roughly two miles apart and the object is to get the football to your goal, and throw the ball up in the air three times ("hailing the ball") per tradition.
The match begins with the throwing up of the ball like a tip off nearly in the center between the two goals and play often goes into many scrums to push and advance the ball toward your goal. There are strategies besides brute force and numerical advantage depending on how many teammates you possess that day, such as deceptively "smuggling the ball" by placing it inside your shirt.
Basically, as long as you do not advance the ball with automobiles or kill anyone, you probably are acting within the rules.
The Uppies team is from the wealthier east side of the city ("top") while the Downies are from the west side of the city ("below"). The Downies are traditionally dock workers and were looked down upon living in the marshes.
The playing field is the whole town, rivers included. In fact, because the Downies are traditionally more blue collar, dock workers, and their goal is the capstan at the Prince of Wales' Dock, they often like to throw the ball into the river to gain an advantage as the creek heads out to the ocean giving them a natural current to their goal. And, most Downies are more comfortable with mud and water too. The Uppies goal is at the gates of the Workington Hall in Curwen Park on the other end and they prefer to keep the game dry.
This game may sound familiar to The Royal Shrovetide Football Match in Ashbourne featured in Catholic365 last year due to Ashbourne's football's tradition of holding their match on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday to begin Lent. And it is very similar indeed.
Early on, settlements would have their own sports like Workington. Many played mob footballs in the British Isles like Uppies and Downies.
Modern footballs grew from these traditions in the 1800s as travel and schooling became more affordable.
Schools began to develop their own versions and eventually, cities, schools, and sport clubs desired to play each other.
They needed unified rules and our footballs today were born through the creation of governing bodies such as soccer's The Football Assocation (FA) and eventually others like the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for college football in the USA.
Many English towns and schools still hold onto their traditional football games to this day.
Workington's is special because their's is held during Eastertide.
The current format features three games, one on Good Friday, one on the Tuesday after Easter, and the last game on the Sunday after Easter.
The reward is Uppie or Downie pride, legendary status especially if you "hail the ball" (score), among many more you could imagine. Most importantly, though, is the money the game raises for charity each year.
People not familiar with sport and Christianity may fail to see the importance of activity and hardwork for the Christian spirit, but one can undoubtedly see the good in keeping Eastertide traditions to remind us of the season we are in, and to raise money for charity.
This is what Uppies and Downies brings Workington and its nearby settlements every year for many centuries.
The Uppies won Good Friday's match continuing their winning ways from 2023 when they took the series 2-1!
Cole Kinder is a recent graduate of UCLA in political science with a focus on international relations. He has written one book, Foreign Policy in 4 Hours, Afghanistan 2021, and has written many articles on various websites such as Crisis Magazine. Cole Kinder specializes in international relations, domestic politics, religious studies (Catholicism), Slavic studies, sports, as well as geography.
