David Risley Studio

This is the Atherstone Ball Game.

I went to the 826th edition on Tuesday.

There are only two rules
The ball can’t leave Long Street.
You can’t knowingly kill anyone.

There are no teams and no goals.
It starts at 3pm, whoever is holding the ball at 5pm wins.

Played every Shrove Tuesday since 1199, in a small Midlands town 11 km/8 miles from where I grew up, it’s a medieval ritual that has somehow survived intact.

At the core are 50–100 local men from Atherstone and three surrounding villages. They all know each other. The street is packed with around 1,000 spectators. Women. Children. Kids in push-chairs. The atmosphere is warm, convivial, welcoming, in sharp contrast to the brawl happening, often right beside you.

Police are present but the real authority comes from the stewards, ex-players in high-vis, who keep the ball moving and break up off-the-ball scuffles.

For the first hour, the ball moves up and down the street and is caught and held so children can kick it.

The last half hour is another level. The ball gets wedged in a doorway and defended. Players pile in fighting to get it. The crowd shout the names of their dads, brothers and husbands.

At 5pm, a horn sounds and the brawling stops instantly.

Minutes later, they’re in the pub. Men who were fighting moments before drink together. The winner receives a medal from the mayor.

It’s an incredible, terrifying, shockingly violent, though often comical, spectacle. A living example of Bakhtin’s carnivalesque: a temporary inversion of order, what he called “bloodless carnival wars”, ritualised violence that simultaneously destroys and regenerates.

Images and clips here are my own and others I found online. Most from this year, some examples from other years. YouTube has documentaries about the game

Thanks to my old friend Malcolm for his company and historical insights.

I’ll be working on large paintings based on the Ball Game, hooligans and rioters on a six-week US studio residency (late March–mid May). I’ve included a couple of large preparatory drawings here.