“Sport in general, and especially football, is a brilliant way to bring people from all backgrounds together. As we count down to the start of our WW1 commemorations, the Premier League’s initiative will use football to help forge lasting links and bonds of friendship as we come together to remember.” -Helen Grant, British Sports Minister
The British Premier League annually commemorates the 1914 Truce by hosting an international youth soccer tournament in a reconstructed pitch near Ypres, Belgium, where some of the fighting was worst. (For more on this, see http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2012-13/nov/premier-league-commits-to-run-christmas-truce-tournament.html.)
British and other European governments, in commemoration of the 1914 Truce, are planning a recreation of these myth-laden soccer games on Christmas day 2014. (For more on this, see: http://world.time.com/2013/02/13/world-war-i-centenary-to-be-marked-by-recreation-of-christmas-day-soccer-match/.) And even some smaller municipalities are setting up their own matches with cities once across the trench-line (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-25349891).
Soccer, or Football as it is known the world over, was the perfect combination of simple, international and playful, making it the natural bridge between cultures, languages, and even erstwhile enemies. Perhaps you should start a pick-up game in your neighborhood after the presents are opened on Christmas morning.
The British Premier League annually commemorates the 1914 Truce by hosting an international youth soccer tournament in a reconstructed pitch near Ypres, Belgium, where some of the fighting was worst. (For more on this, see http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2012-13/nov/premier-league-commits-to-run-christmas-truce-tournament.html.)
British and other European governments, in commemoration of the 1914 Truce, are planning a recreation of these myth-laden soccer games on Christmas day 2014. (For more on this, see: http://world.time.com/2013/02/13/world-war-i-centenary-to-be-marked-by-recreation-of-christmas-day-soccer-match/.) And even some smaller municipalities are setting up their own matches with cities once across the trench-line (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-25349891).
Soccer, or Football as it is known the world over, was the perfect combination of simple, international and playful, making it the natural bridge between cultures, languages, and even erstwhile enemies. Perhaps you should start a pick-up game in your neighborhood after the presents are opened on Christmas morning.