Arguably the greatest football game that ever took place was never televised. We donִ know everyone who played or scored or how good a game it was but we do know the score.
Most accounts say the game finished 3-2 (although some say it was 2-1) to Germany and it was played on the Western Front between the trenches on Christmas Day 1914 between representatives from the Allies (predominately British) and the Germans. It showed that sport brings people together and can be a force for good.
The war diary of the Cheshire Regiment mentions the game as does an account of a German officer, Lieutenant Niemann, who appears to have played. They both have the Germans winning the game 3-2.
This score is also supported by a letter written by a British major in the medical corps that was printed in The Times. It is a good thing that there was a winner as it is probably not the best place to have a penalty shoot out.
Conditions for the game
Football pitches nowadays are fantastic but if they start to get a bit muddy or cut up, people are apt to say that it is like playing football on the Somme. These brave young men were actually playing in Somme-like conditions.
Obviously compared with the horrific situation they were in these guys were not bothered about turning an ankle. If they did they would probably have strapped up a makeshift ankle support and carried on.
The whole notion of getting injured or needing a first aid kit was not on their minds as they enjoyed a kick about with fellow young men on Christmas Day. That major from the medical corps who wrote the letter was probably not on the sidelines with a bag of physio supplies.
In the TV comedy Blackadder Goes Forth Baldrick re-calls the Christmas truce and asks our hero if he remembers the football match. He replies, Ӓemember it Рhow could I forget it РI was never offside.Ԝn
The meaning of the match
One ex-soldier Bruce Bairnsfather wrote that he, ӷouldnִ have missed that unique and weird Christmas Day for anything.ӠHe exchanged buttons with a German officer and enjoyed the camaraderie between the two sets of soldiers.
The Germans had been characterised as the Ӥastardly hunӠbut here they were playing football together and enjoying themselves. They found that the ӥvil bocheӠwere just the same as they were after all.
However, from the perspective of today it does seem odd that one day they can be shooting a ball at each other and then return to the trenches and start to shoot bullets at the same people.
David Cameron recently announced that in 2014 there will be memorials and tributes paid by the country to the bravery of the men who fought in the trenches. It would perhaps be a fitting tribute if there was a football match between England and Germany.
It could take place in Belgium and it would perhaps be a nice way to remember those men that decided to kick a ball about that Christmas.