Intro:

Up'ards won the Shrovetide football match 1-0 after the ball went missing on Wednesday night (18th).

Script:

The annual Royal Shrovetide football game is said to be the world's oldest, largest, longest and angriest football game.

It takes place in Ashbourne- a town in the Derbyshire Dales, and is played between the Up'ards - those born north of the River Henmore that divides the town - and the Down'ards who were born south of the river.

It is played with a hand-painted, cork-filled ball.

The pitch is a no-man's land between two watermills, Sturston Mill and Clifton Mill, which serve as the goals at either end of the town about three miles apart.

It has few rules - murder and manslaughter are barred though

It is a moving brawl that continues through the roads of the town, across fields and even along the bed of the local river.

This man explained a bit about the heated nature of the sport:

SOUNDBITE: Local Man (name unknown) On how violent the scrum is:

"Not too bad, people get overheated and there's a few fists flying but other than that it's normal...it's civilised, they're playing the game and they just want to go natural. It's good."

Unfortunately this year the ball vanished shortly before 8pm, as it was whisked away in a sudden break in the pitch darkness.

The game ended 1-0 to the Up'ards, who have remained undefeated since 2010.