It is thought that Shrovetide dates back many hundreds of years, although there is little documentation of it previous to the 1890s because of a fire at the Royal Shrovetide Commitee office, there are other publications mentioning the game in the 1600s.

The game isn't exclusive to Ashbourne, many years ago over 50 towns accross the country played the game, however Ashbourne is one of very few who have continued to play it.

The game has only ever been cancelled twice, both times due to a nationwide Foot And Mouth Disease outbreak. First in 1968 when they played a mini version of the game on the park and again in 2001 when the game was cancelled altogether. In 2001 players still met at the plinth to sing the songs and Zephyr Enterprises a local Young Enterprise Company still had 200 t-shirts to sell which they decided to produce to celebrate the game...... suprisingly they sold well because they remembered the year that never happened!

The game continued through both World Wars as requested by the men who were fighting in them, that is partly what they were fighting for, to keep our great tradition of Shrovetide!