We are now approaching the anniversary of the first Christmas of World War One, and there is great interest in the story of the Christmas truce in December 1914 on sections of the Western Front. Details of what actually happened a hundred years ago are not easy to confirm, but the idea of a temporary truce which reaffirmed the humanity of man in difficult circumstances is very appealing.
A football game between soldiers of the two opposing armies is perhaps the best known part of the story. This week there is a national programme to encourage football clubs, amateur teams, schools and the public to commemorate the truce through staging a football match, taking a photo of the teams, and uploading the image to the Football Remembers website. Professional teams in the UK took part last weekend, and photos of Scottish teams such as Raith Rovers and St.Mirren are already on the site. A Scottish Professional Football League press release gives some background. On Twitter the hashtag #footballremembers brings together many contributions.
Many schools are getting involved. For example, on 10th December at Kilmarnock FC’s ground school and college teams will take part in short games with a charitable and educational purpose.
The British Council‘s education pack “Football Remembers” is a very useful resource for teachers preparing their students for this particular commemorative activity, and also offers material for learning in other areas.
“All Together Now” is another initiative, which aims to mark the anniversary through music and for a charitable benefit. The truce was the inspiration for the song of the same name, released by The Farm in 1990. In 2014 a group of music performers (including Scottish band The Proclaimers) have united as The Peace Collective, to re-record the song. “The new track features a backing choir of schoolboy footballers from the English Premier League and German Bundesliga. All profits from the release will go to the British Red Cross and the Shorncliffe Trust. The Red Cross deployed more than 90,000 personnel to help the wounded and injured during WW1″. A video of the recording is available on YouTube.
Finally, one reason why the truce is attracting popular attention is the Christmas TV advertisement made by supermarket chain Sainsburys with the assistance of the Royal British Legion. This tells a fictionalised story based on the football game, and YouTube also has a short documentary piece about the historical background to this advertisement.
