Uppies win first match
Last updated 16:25, Sunday, 18 May 2008
- Uppies and Downies Watch a video clip....
In the thick of Uppies and Downies' first match on Good Friday 2008
UPPIES have claimed victory in the first game of Workington's Uppies and Downies series.
Paul Clark, 33, of Sarsfield Road, Westfield, hailed the ball after a two-and-a-half hour struggle.
Hundreds of people crowded onto The Cloffocks at 6.30pm to watch the ball be thrown off by 11-year-old Liam Boyd.
After battling for two hours, Paul grabbed the ball from between somebody’s legs and stuffed it in his jacket.
He then pretended to hobble away, while diversions from the Uppies were put in place.
Paul hid the ball in a bin and bumped into a couple of friends, John Jenns and Craig Sowerby, in Vulcan Park.
He told his friends about hiding the ball and they helped him make his way up through side streets and alleys to the gates of Workington Hall where he hailed the ball.
Paul said: “This is my Anfield. It is the same feeling I would get if I played for Liverpool.”
Paul is the son of veteran player Joe Clark, of High Close, High Harrington, who has played the game for 41 years.
Joe said: “I am absolutely ecstatic, it is fantastic. The ball was almost down and it was a great achievement to get the ball back and bring it up.
“It will make for a good game on Tuesday, as the Downies don’t want this to be 2-0.”
But the Downies are in for a tough fight on Tuesday, as Uppie David Shepherd who has hailed the ball for the past three years, hopes to hail it.
David has a ball from two Good Fridays and Easter Saturday, and wants Tuesday’s ball to complete the set.
He said: “It is an excellent feeling to hail the ball. Especially after playing for 20-odd years. But I haven’t got my lucky jacket on tonight."
After the ball was tossed off the bridge, for the first half hour the two sides battled by the concrete bridge at The Cloffocks before going into the river.
The ball was then thrown backwards and forwards across the river and landed in Allerdale House car park.
It then spilled onto the grass infront of Allerdale House where it stayed until Paul broke away around 8.15pm.
Uppies and Downies is an annual tradition held over Easter.
The game has no set rules but the Uppies, from the top end of town, have to carry the ball by hand to the gates of Workington Hall to claim a victory and the Downies, who represent families from the Marsh and Quay area of the town, have to get it to the end of the quayside.
Each game starts at 6.30pm where a ball is thrown from the concrete bridge over Cloffocks Beck.
A new ball is used for each game and they are hand made by furniture restorer Mark Rawlinson, of Lady Court, Moorclose, Workington.
It takes about 30 hours of work to make each ball and this is the 27th year that Mark has made them.
The Cloffocks is known as Workington’s Wembley to the Uppies and Downies players.
This year is extra special as there are fears that when Tesco is built on the land next year, it could put a stop to the game.
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