The countdown has started for the 2025 series of Uppies and Downies.
Workington’s mass no-rules football game will return this year on Friday April 18, Tuesday April 22 and Saturday April 26.
It’s a tradition that has a long and winding history in the town, where it has taken place for over 250 years.
Part of that history also includes the throwing off of the ball – which sees an individual or youngster throw the ball over their head into the waiting crowd of players to begin each game.
For over 40 years the Saffill family have been a big part of that tradition and this year seven-year-old Brodhie Saffill-Kirkpatrick will be throwing off the ball.
Brodhie’s mum Billie said will be his second year throwing off the ball and that it’s always an exciting and nostalgic time for the family.
She added: “We’re really excited for this year’s games. We can’t wait, it’s a big thing for us.
“Brodhie is practicing to play already and he’s really looking forward to throwing off the ball and is very excited for it.”
The Safill family have been throwing off the ball and sponsoring it for over 40 years – which involves helping ball maker Mark Rawlinson pay for the materials needed to create the balls.
Billie’s nana Marilyn Boyd and grandad Townsley Boyd currently sponsor the ball.
Billie added: “My auntie Hayley was the first one to throw it off in the family in 1984, she died of cancer in 1988 and she was 13, so we kept the ball in her memory.
“I first threw it off when I was four in 1998 and then Brodhie took over in 2022 when he was four. But me, my brother, little sister and cousin would take turns throwing it off every year.
“It is a nervewracking experience, it is quite scary, but you do get a good thrill off it.”
Billie said she also remembers having family members hail balls over the years, including her dad and uncle.
She said: “My dad Billy still plays, he says he’ll stop every year but he never does. My dad has the Millennium ball and my uncle Mark has the Jubilee ball and another ball.
“But when they hail it it’s just amazing. I will never forget when my dad hailed the ball, it was just brilliant. He can’t swim, but he actually got his ball going down the river.
“My grandad also has his uncle Willie’s Good Friday ball from 1935. They work hard to get them, so the balls are passed down in the family.”
Billie added that the games mean the world to her family and that if the downies win, they’ll be celebrating on the town with the players.
She added: “It’s never going to stop, which is good because there’s a lot of things that don’t happen around here, but Uppies and Downies is big for everybody in Workington.
“It’s just seeing everyone coming together and enjoying it, that’s the best bit.”
Uppies and Downies is one of around 25 traditional football games that are still played across Britain – the origins of which trace back to the 12th century.
Workington is thought to be the biggest town where the mass football game still goes ahead and it also plays the game more often than anywhere else in the UK.
Thousands of people play in the three games that take place over Easter on Good Friday, Easter Tuesday and Easter Saturday.
It sees the town split into two teams, the Uppies, who traditionally have roots in the upper part of the town, and the Downies, who come from the lower end of town.
The games begin with the ball being thrown off at the Cloffocks, where each team must then get the ball to its hailing point.
For the Uppies, they must get it to the gates of Workington Hall, also known as Curwen Hall, while the Downies, must aim for the capstan on Workington Harbour.
To do this, teams clash together in a scrum-like formation that moves in a giant mass back and forth until the ball breaks free, giving players a chance to make a run for it.
The winner is then declared when the ball is hailed by being thrown up into the air three times in a row.
Ball hailers get to keep their ball and are hugely celebrated by spectators and players once the game comes to an end.
See our hall of fame of Uppies and Downies players here – if we’re missing a hailer you know, please email us via admin@cumbriacrack.com
You can read more about the history of Uppies and Downies here too.
