The hailer of the Easter Saturday ball in the Workington no rules mass football game Uppies and Downies said he had been waiting 20 years for the moment.
Sam Williamson, of Seaton, played the Easter game for the first time in 2026.
Uppies aim to get the specially made leather ball to Workington Hall – also known as Curwen Castle – while Downies want to get it to the harbour.
There are three games over Easter – Good Friday, Easter Tuesday and the following Saturday.
This year, Uppies had won the series by Tuesday – with Andy Hunter, 19, of Distington hailing the ball on Good Friday and 11-year-old Willow Newman-Kelly hailing the ball on Tuesday – the youngest player in the modern game, helped by her dad Declan.
Sam, of Seaton, said he hailed the ball for his son Theo, who had been calling him ‘Mr No Hailer’.
He said he was over the moon – but very scratched from the brambles by the river and Black Path.
Sam said he remembered his first game in 2006 like it was yesterday.
We caught up with Sam before the throw off at 6.30pm and he said it could be any side’s ball but he was hoping it wouldn’t be a short game, because that meant it would be a longer wait for next year.
He told us this year’s scrums had been quite tough and a little claustrophobic at times too.
