Northern Life: Shrove Tuesday, Alnwick Football Match was first broadcast on 22nd February 1977. This Tyne Tees Television regional news programme ran on weekday evenings from 6 September 1976 to 2 October 1992 and adopted a light hearted approach to nightly news magazine coverage. The report was presented by Alister Harrison, a Tyne Tees reporter who worked from the 1970s through to the 1990s. Harrison reported on numerous editions of Northern Life as well as the Today at Six regional news...

Northern Life: Shrove Tuesday, Alnwick Football Match was first broadcast on 22nd February 1977. This Tyne Tees Television regional news programme ran on weekday evenings from 6 September 1976 to 2 October 1992 and adopted a light hearted approach to nightly news magazine coverage. The report was presented by Alister Harrison, a Tyne Tees reporter who worked from the 1970s through to the 1990s. Harrison reported on numerous editions of Northern Life as well as the Today at Six regional news programme started on Tyne Tees TV in 1969.  

When independent television was first introduced to Britain in September 1955, it was only available in the London region. However, when some of the first ITV companies faced financial struggles, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) distributed independent television to other regions until it finally reached the North East, where ITV created Tyne Tees Television due to an agreement with the ITA that stated that they would provide a weeks-worth of television programmes for the North East of England. Tyne Tees Television was named after two primary rivers of the region, notably the River Tyne and the River Tees. It was originally intended the include the third regional river, The River Wear, but they opted against this as they felt the name “Three Rivers Television” was too obscure, and they felt that “Tyne, Wear, and Tees” was too long. They chose to go with The Rivers Tyne and Tees as the River Wear is in the centre of the three. With that being said, the early signature tune selected for Tyne Tees TV was titled “Three River Fantasy” in homage to the region's rivers. Over the years the name has changed but the initial aim to provide television in the North East region remained the same up until 2012 when the analogue signals in the Tyne Tees area were switched off, making it one of the last ITV regions to of been solely broadcasted.

In the report, Harrison covers the Alnwick Shrovetide football match in Northumberland, which is played annually between the parishes of St Michael and St Paul. The ‘mob’ football match is a historic game also known as ‘Scoring the Hales’ which was first recorded in 1762. However, the tradition of mob football dates back to the Middle Ages when medieval football evolved. During this period, there was a rise in popularity of ball games played at Shrovetide all over Europe, but more prominently in Great Britain.

In England, there is believed to be a dark origin for these ball games: that barbarians decapitated the head off a Danish Prince and then kicked it among themselves. However, this is likely to be false. Some believe that the games were inspired by Harpastum and other Roman games. Harpastum was a violent game with few known rules. The violence is reflective of medieval football where matches were chaotic and the rules were sparse. One known rule is that they could use any means to get the ball, made from an inflated pig’s bladder, so long as it did not result in “manslaughter or murder.”

In relation to Scoring of the Hales, the games still have very few rules. It usually involves teams of roughly 150 per side and the goals are decorated by greenery and positioned 400 yards apart. Originally, the sporting spectacular was a street game. At the start of the game, crowds would assemble below Alnwick Castle where the ball was ceremonially thrown over the barbican by the Duke of Northumberland, a member of the Percy family for more than 700 years. Players would then kick the ball through the streets of the town. However, in 1818 the games fierce nature led to property damage when a window was smashed. The game was banned yet rebellious locals would ignore the ruling and continue to play until 1827. This led to residents signing a petition to the Duke where they asked for a safer place to play the game. The Duke granted the pitch to be at the top of North Peth and decided that he would award money for good play and also award the ball to a scorer of choice.   By the following year, the game relocated to the pastures. Eventually, the game developed to be a match between the parishes of St Paul and St Michael in 1847. It continued up until the First World War when soldiers needed to camp on the pastures. After that, the games had failed to take place in 1945 and 1949 due to hostilities. Many feared that this would be the end of the games but the Duke resumed the match in 1952. It has continued annually ever since, cancelled only once in 2001 due to an outbreak in foot-and-mouth disease. In 1967 the pitch moved beside the river with this being the present location of the game. The team who first scores two goals, or ‘hales’, is the winner. The ball is then carried to the River Aln and thrown in, and the hardy person who manages to retrieve the ball gets to keep it.

Scoring the Hales is one of only a few Shrovetide games to survive into the twenty-first century. Other games include the Sedgefield Ball Game, in County Durham, and The Ashbourne Game, later known as Royal Shrovetide Football. The latter earned this name in 1928 when the former Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) joined in the game, which resulted in him suffering a bloody nose. In 2003 the game received Royal Assent for a second time when Prince Charles participated in throwing the ball from the raised plinth.

More Northern Life editions at NEFA:

Northern Life: Wrestling Women (1976)

Northern Life: Bakery, Mrs Maguire, 81 Years Old (1977)

Northern Life: Marathon Dancer, Non-stop Record by Cleveland Man (1977)

Northern Life: Strike, Fashion Industries, Hartlepool (1977)

References:

https://tvforum.uk/tvhome/itv1-pictures-dsat-34149/page-15

http://itv1963.retropia.co.uk/tyne-tees-television/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITV_Tyne_Tees#Launch_and_the_1960s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_football

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoring_the_Hales

https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/ancient-shrovetide-football-game-is-all-set-for-kick-off-next-month-407705

https://www.wikizeroo.org/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvUm95YWxfU2hyb3ZldGlkZV9Gb290YmFsbCNUaGVfQXNoYm91cm5lX2dhbWU