The most important football match ever

One hundred years ago, at the peak of World War I, a group of British and German soldiers decided to call an impromptu truce and instead of shooting bullets, they started to shoot at their opponents’ goals, with a football.

 This game, held in Wulverghem, Belgium on Christmas Day in 1914 was very different to the highly organised matches being held today with enormous audiences both live and on television. Many newspapers of the time described this event, which was known as the ‘Christmas truce’. There are various accounts but although the format and planning differs, few doubt that this event actually took place.

 It was more of a kick-around, possibly several different ones. There were many letters sent both by British and German soldiers referring to the extraordinary events on Christmas Day. Soldiers who were fighting each other in the trenches in Belgium simply came out of their dugout and shook hands, exchanged greetings, cigarettes, autographs and simply had the opportunity to stretch out without the fear of machine gun fire. One British soldier’s account says that a football was thrown into no-man’s land from the German side and British and German soldiers joined in. Other accounts describe similar relations between German and French soldiers during this short truce.

 The result of this and such games was not important. The result arising from this exchange was. Young men, fighting each other in the Great War, expressed their desire for peace. Over 100,000 soldiers were involved. On Christmas Eve, the Germans decorated the area around their camp in Ypres, Belgium and sang carols. The British soldiers replied by singing their own carols.

Christmas Day 1914 taught the world a number of lessons. This fraternisation between warring parties showed that there can be respect and understanding even between those that do not agree. A British Brigadier General gave an account of this event and there were many other soldiers who described this occasion with pride. One long serving British soldier said that he “wouldn’t have missed this unique and weird Christmas Day for anything’.

Captain Sir Edward Hulse described a sing-song which “ended up with ‘Auld lang syne’ which we all, English, Scots, Irish, Prussians, Wurttenbergers, etc, joined in. It was absolutely astounding, and if I had seen it on a cinematograph film I should have sworn that it was faked!”.  A German Lieutenant, Johannes Niemann, says that he ‘saw the incredible sight of our soldiers exchanging cigarettes, schnapps and chocolate with the enemy’.

 Unfortunately this attitude did not last. The leaders of both sides explicitly forbid a repetition of the Christmas Truce of 1914. But there was a clear winner – that there is nothing that can stop us from working together for the common good. There is no great divide and our differences are definitely not insurmountable.  If we could make this Christmas 1914 feeling last all year round, we can look forward to a far better world.

 I take this opportunity to wish best wishes for the festive season to all your readers and indeed to all the people of Malta and Gozo.