Historic Northumberland Shrove Tuesday football match returns to Alnwick Castle

Alnwick’s annual Shrove Tuesday football match, known locally as Scoring the Hales, took place on Tuesday, February 13

A huge crowd turned out in Alnwick to take part in one of Northumberland’s most unusual traditions on Shrove Tuesday.

The annual Shrovetide Football match, known locally as Scoring the Hales, took place in the fields surrounding Alnwick Castle today (February 13) between the rival parishes of St. Michael and St. Paul.

The event has been going for 206 years and sees participants attempt to score the most hales, which are like football goals, but are taller than they are wide.

At the end of the match, the ball is kicked into the River Aln and players jump in after it in an attempt to be the first to get it onto the opposite bank.

Steve Temple won the ball this year, making him a record 12-time winner. He said: “It was very cold! Fortunately, there weren’t too many that went in but it was still a bit of a fight. It was a good result!”

Scorers of the first and second hales receive cash prizes of £15, while £30 goes to the third and conquering hale. There were also 20 prizes of £5 in recognition of good play.

Historians at Alnwick’s Bailiffgate Museum say Shrovetide ball games have been played in England since at least the 12th century, and Alnwick is one of only five such events that remain in the country. That includes the match in Sedgefield in County Durham which is said to date back more than 900 years.

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