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FOOTBALL |
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forms of play officially recognised is the old Rugby game, the other form, known as the " Association," being arrived at by agreement of those interested in the game.
To illustrate the ancient origin of the game, and its serious import as a local contest rather than a sport, some examples may be given. It is still (1877) keenly contested at Workington on Easter Tuesday on the banks of, and not unfrequently in, the river Derwent (Dickinson's Cumberland Glossary). At Derby there was a football contest between the parishes of All Saints' and St. Peter's. The ball was thrown into the market-place from the Town Hall. The moment it was thrown the "war cries" of the rival parishes began, and the contest, nominally that of a football match, was in reality a fight between the two sections of the town; and the victors were announced by the joyful ringing of their parish bells (Dyer's Popular Customs, p. 75). At Chester-le-Street the game was played between what were termed " up-streeters " and " down-streeters," one side endeavouring to get the ball to the top of the town, whilst their opponents tried to keep it near the lower or north end. At one o'clock the ball was thrown out from near the old commercial hotel, the Queen's Head, in the centre of the town, and it has often been received by over three and four hundred people, so great was the interest taken in this ancient sport. At Asborne the struggle was between the M up'ards " and " down'ards." At Dorking the divisions were between the east and west ends of the town, and there was first a perambulation of the streets by the football retinue composed of grotesquely dressed persons. At Alnwick the divisions were the parishes of St. Michael's and St. Paul's. At Kirkwall the contest was on New Year's Day, and was between " up the gates " and " down the gates," the ball being thrown up at the Cross. At Scarborough, on the morning of Shrove Tuesday, hawkers paraded the streets with particoloured balls, which were purchased by all ranks of the community. With these, and armed with sticks, men, women, and children repaired to the sands below the old town and indiscriminately commenced a contest. The following graphic account of Welsh customs was printed in the Oswestry Observer of March 2, 1887 : " In South Cardiganshire it seems that about |
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