# Football in the River at Bourton-on-the-Water

> Discover Bourton-on-the-Water's football in the river, a summer tradition of six-a-side matches played knee deep in the River Windrush for 70 years.

URL: https://cotswolds.info/strange-things/river-football.shtml  
Section: Strange Things  
Location: Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire (51.884, -1.757)  
Last updated: 2021-02-11

Bourton-on-the-Water is the setting and football is the game but it's football with a twist. None of this eleven a side business with 45 minutes in each direction played on a pretty pitch of green. This is six a side with 15 minutes in each direction played knee deep in a river.

![Cotswolds village of Bourton-on-the-Water](https://cotswolds.info/images/strangethings/bourton-on-the-water.jpg)

The Windrush River, a 3 metre wide babbling brook, is the water in 'Bourton-on-the-Water' and is also home to one of the Cotswold's more bizarre festivals.

![River Windrush flowing through the Cotswolds village of Bourton-on-the-Water](https://cotswolds.info/images/strangethings/river_windrush_football.jpg)

The tradition of Football in the River has been around for over seventy years with the modern event attracting a number of local sides and hundreds of spectators to boot.

The villagers of Bourton-on-the-Water have played football in the River Windrush every summer for 70 years. Goal posts are set up under the bridges and players brave the cold knee-deep water wearing nothing but bright coloured football shorts or fancy dress. Hundreds of spectators line the river banks and cheer for their team in a splashy, noisy affair that spills out onto a cheery fête on the village green.

**See Video of the Football game on 27 August 2007
The two teams are from Bourton Rovers Football Club**

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## Football in the River

This page last modified Thursday, 11-Feb-2021 13:25:11 CET