The Atherstone Ball Game has been held every year since 1199. This ancestor of modern football is played with no pitch, minimal rules and a specially-constructed ball embellished with ribbons and messages handwritten in local schools, pubs and businesses. On Shrove Tuesday, men and boys converge on the town’s main thoroughfare, Long Street, where fathers, sons, acquaintances and strangers, brothers in arms for two hours, battle it out to retrieve the ball.

Shrovetide is my ode to the game’s visceral beauty. A meditation on how it feels, what it means, why it endures. I slowed the film down to 100 frames a second, shot it in monochrome, tightly composed, with the ecstatic rush of shouts and roars replaced by a soothing score. At this tempo, the scene softens. We observe individuals, read the nuance in their split-second expressions and fleeting gestures. Watchfulness stretches into hope, into despair. A passing grab becomes an embrace. Instead of a faceless mass, here are people, portraiture in motion. 

Deep sentiment thrums beneath the outward aggression. Though undeniably macho, the game opens up space for male vulnerability, trust and care in a world where men are still discouraged from talking about their struggles. This is no random brawl. There is a beginning and an end, its violence consensual and contained. A release. And when it finishes, no matter what went down, everyone shakes hands.

The West Midlands is where the industrial revolution emerged, with Atherstone once a centre of hatmaking, famous for its felt, and wider Warwickshire home to some of the country’s most productive collieries. Working in a factory or coal mine, as many men round these parts did, was tough, dangerous graft but the grit it required forged unspoken bonds, a shared identity.

Deindustrialisation in the region since the mid 20th century has changed the character of many working class towns. Men who take part in the game describe the confidence, self worth and pride it gives them. A sense of belonging and of ownership. The Atherstone Ball Game is the resilient expression of a collective spirit. A moment to stop and say: this is us, this is ours.

Credits:

Director - Lewis Khan

DOP - Elliot Holbrow

1st Ac - Milo Brown

Sound Recordist Day 1 - Tom Morris

Sound Recordist Day 2 - Giovanni Tria

Colour Grade - John Lowe

Music - James O’Connell