Royal Shrovetide Football: Man who cancelled game asked to start match

A man who was held responsible for the cancellation of an ancient football game has said he was "gobsmacked" to be asked to start it 22 years later.

Paul Cook said he felt like he had a target on his back, after he asked organisers to cancel the Royal Shrovetide Football match in the Derbyshire town of Ashbourne in 2001.

Mr Cook, a National Farmers' Union agent, intervened due to a national outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

This year's game will start on Tuesday.

The two-day contest involves thousands of rival players competing to move a ball to opposite ends of the Derbyshire town.

The event is one of the most famous examples of Shrovetide football and usually takes place on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday each year.

Mr Cook said being asked to "turn up" the ball to start the game was a "massive honour".

Speaking about the moment organisers asked him, he said: "I was absolutely gobsmacked. I didn't know what to say.

"When you realise the history of the game and the significance of what's been asked, it's the highest honour that can be bestowed on you."

Notable figures who have "turned up" the ball to start the game include Brian Clough and Sir Stanley Matthews.

In 2001, the year Mr Cook asked to have the game cancelled, the Prince of Wales - now King Charles - was due to start it.

"On the Friday before the game was due to be played, the farmers came to me and said 'we need to stop the game. We don't want to have foot-and-mouth spreading'," he said.

He said he had approached the organisers to raise concerns.

"It was heated and understandably so," he said. "They had put such a lot of work into the event and getting Prince Charles here.

"But we could have had thousands of cattle slaughtered if the game had gone ahead.

"It was a very difficult time. I felt there was a target on my back for a time because it was me that asked for the game to be closed down.

"But I think people understood it was the right thing to do."

King Charles was later invited to start the match in 2003.

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