Saturday, 25 December 2021
Picture the scene. A freezing cold winter's afternoon in Kirkwall. Maybe there is even snow on the ground. The town's streets are lined with folk buzzing with anticipation. Then, at 1.00pm precisely a sudden hush descends upon the crowd as it watches the two teams of players — the Uppies and the Doonies — enter Broad Street from opposite ends of the town. A mental image of Vikings preparing to go into battle would not be misplaced. Once gathered together, a previous winner, standing at the Merket Cross in front of St. Magnus Cathedral, throws up the ba'. The crowd erupts, shouting encouragement to the team each member supports, urging it on to grab the ba' from the opposition and begin pushing it towards the team's goal. That of the Doonies is the harbour basin, while the Uppies' goal is a wall on the other end of town, known as Mackinson's Corner. Each goal is about five hundred meters away from the Cathedral.
Like a bizarre form of Medieval ballet, the two teams surge back and forth as they attempt to grab the ba' from their opponents, who try to keep it hidden within the scrum of their team. As the ba' begins to move more towards one goal or the other the crowd's shouting becomes ever louder and more animated. Some particularly brave supporters, or perhaps reckless would be a better description, will run along with the players, hovering on the fringes of the heaving, groaning, sweating, mass of men. Those foolhardy supporters risk being kicked, knocked over or injured if the player in possession of the ba' suddenly breaks free from the scrum and makes a dash towards his team's goal.
The Ba' game is essentially an ancient form of street football without rules. In the case of the Kirkwall Ba' it's more akin to a game of rugby. Its only object is for each team to drive the ba' towards its own goal, by whatever means possible. The game's precise origins are unknown. Its first documented evidence records it as being played in 1650, but popular belief is that it's much older. One theory is that it is the remnant of a pagan midwinter ritual in which the New Year symbolically challenges the Old Year and is put to death. In his book, The Kirkwall Ba': From the Water to the Wall (2004)*, the author John Robertson, suggests the game represents the battle between two pagan spirits, symbolising winter and summer, who each want to be the dominant season.
The Kirkwall Ba' is traditionally contested on Christmas Day and New Year's Day each year. Exceptions, when the game didn't take place, were a couple of years during the Second World War — probably 1940 and 1941 — when there weren't enough able men at home in Orkney to make it viable. Neither was it played on Christmas Day 2020 and New Year's Day 2021 due to Coronavirus restrictions. Over time the way the Ba' has been played has seen subtle changes. It has existed in its present format since around 1850.
Before the Men's Ba' there is also the Boys' Ba' which is thrown up at 10.00am and is open to boys under sixteen years of age. Boys as young as five have been known to have a taste of the game. The Boys' Ba' can last for as little as a few minutes or it can take several hours. Very occasionally it will not have ended by the time the Men's Ba' begins. The Men’s Ba’ lasts about five hours, but has been known to take as long as eight hours. The winner of each game is lifted up onto the shoulders of his team mates and triumphantly paraded through town to the delight of the cheering crowd. The winner also gets to keep the ba'. Tradition says that the winner is obliged to host a party at his house for his team on the same night as the game. Celebrations usually last past sunrise the following morning which, in Orkney at the turn of the year, is almost 10.00am.
It wasn't always only a men's game. There are records of young women taking part in the Boys' Ba' as early as 1860 and again during the 1880s. In the 1920s its interest amongst women was revived once more. In 1925 letters to family members living elsewhere in Scotland or abroad show that even young married women participated in the boys' game. By 1929, it is said, women players outnumbered the boys. The Ba' remained popular with women throughout the 1930s, but the start of WWII diverted women's interest in sport onto more urgent matters, such as volunteering for the war effort or taking in and looking after injured soldiers.
After the end of the War the mood for the game changed again. In the spirit of equality and, perhaps, to celebrate the nation's relief that the war was finally over, two women’s games were staged, on Christmas Day 1945 and New Year's Day 1946, respectively. Despite its renewed popularity, some members of the Kirkwall Town Council deemed that it was inappropriate for women to participate in the Ba'. Their view was supported by reports in the local newspaper. The game, they claimed, was an undignified pursuit for women. There were demonstrations, with women declaring they were more serious about the game than the men who, in their opinion, saw the Ba' merely as an excuse to get away from the family festivities for a few hours and to spend time with other men. Their anger altered nothing. The council members — no doubt all men — would not be swayed. From then on, to the present day, the Kirkwall Ba' has remained the men's domain. Today the game is taken very seriously indeed among the male population of the town. The Ba' is more than just a game. It is a symbol of Orkney pride and identity. To participate and drive your team on to try and win the game is to defend the honour of past players and winners: fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers.
Each game is played with a new ba’, a cork-filled, leather ball which is handmade by one of only a small number of Orcadian ba’ makers. A finished men’s ba’ weighs about 3lbs and has a circumference of approximately twenty eight inches. The boys’ ba’ is slightly smaller.
In such a rough game injuries are inevitable, including serious ones, such as a broken leg or fractured ribs. With all the men's pent-up energy is it perhaps not surprising that following a game fights sometimes occur, particularly once the drink has started flowing. All things considered, however, there is astonishing camaraderie among players and the Kirkwall Ba' is surprisingly civil. If someone gets hurt or passes out in the scrum, the game is temporarily paused to enable the injured player to be pulled out and attended to by the attendant paramedics. Once he has been safely removed, the game resumes.
The names of the two teams are a short-form of "Up the Gates” and “Doon the Gates” which is thought to be a corruption of the Old Norse word, gata, meaning road. Whether a player is an Uppie or a Doonie originally depended upon the individual’s place of birth. Those born to the north of the Cathedral were Doonies, with Uppies being those born to the south. These days, however, it is family loyalty which usually dictates the team a player takes on, rather than his area of birth.
In the days leading up to Christmas Kirkwall begins to take on a siege-like appearance. Businesses and residents living along the route of the Ba' nail strong wooden planks across windows and doors to prevent potential damage if the ba' should suddenly erupt from a scrum. The barriers remain up throughout the festive period and will generally be removed once businesses resume trading in the first week of the new year.
The occasion of the Kirkwall Ba' is also an opportunity for supporters to enjoy themselves. To meet up with family and friends they have perhaps not seen for a while, to exchange news and gossip and to share a dram from a hip flask or a hot drink from a thermos to help keep out the cold and the blood flowing. The Ba' could be said to be the glue of Kirkwall society. Never absent for long in conversations from one year to the next it is a metaphor for community and a coming-together to share a common interest, a common goal. No matter which side wins, it's about a collective experience. For players and supporters alike the games are occasions for making memories and history.
In contemporary Britain street football survives only in a few places, such as Jedburgh, in the Scottish Borders, in Ashbourne in the Derbyshire Dales, and in Workington, in west Cumbria, and is played in these towns mostly on Shrove Tuesday. To Orcadians there is only one Ba' that matters. The Kirkwall Ba' is more than just a game — it's EVERYTHING.
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NOTES
* Robertson, J.D.M. (2004) The Kirkwall Ba': From the Water to the Wall. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press
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