The Ba' Game is a version of medieval football played in Scotland, primarily in Orkney and the Scottish Borders, around Christmas and New Year.
Example of a ball used in the Kirkwall Ba game on display in the National Football Museum, Manchester.
The game of hand Ba' played in Jedburgh streets in 1901. The participants are dressed in black, mourning the recent death of Queen Victoria.
Jedburgh shops boarded up below where the game is in play
The laddies game in Jedburgh in 2020; on the left they reach for the ball and the uppies then take it to the right.
Jedburgh is a market town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was the traditional county town of the historic county of Roxburghshire, and is approximately 41 miles south west
Ba' Game
…opposite corners of the Market Square, by the White Swan hotel and the old Post Office. It is played between the married men and bachelors of the town. Jedburgh: the game can be traced back to at least 1704. Play starts at the Mercat Cross in the centre of the town on the Thursday after Shrove Tuesday. The…
County Buildings, Castlegate, Jedburgh