English town competes in 'lawless' football match

STORY: Friendships are set aside in this

ferocious, centuries-old football game

Location: Ashbourne, England

The 'lawless' Royal Shrovetide

match has few rules

Hundreds of players compete to move the ball

towards goal posts more than three miles apart

(Peter Jackson, Spectator)

“You can tell the serious ones, the way they dress, their whole body language. Good luck to all of them.”

(Glenda Jackson, Spectator)

“It’s good for the oldies as well because we can come and see what the youngsters are doing, getting in there in the scrum and everything. It’s a fantastic atmosphere, it really is.”

The annual match takes place over two days

Most historians trace the game's

origins back to the mid-1600s