Football in particular, as the most widespread and popular sport, has enormous power. And in combination with Christmas, it can even create magic.
Let's go back to the period of the World War I. At Christmas 1914, there was a moment when football was able to unite the belligerent parties, at least for a while.
Football during the Christmas Truce
World War I (July 28th, 1914 – November 11th, 1918), also known as the Great War, was one of the worst military conflicts in human history.
Already in the first year of the war, there was a miraculous moment when the two warring sides calmed down for a while and the enemy soldiers were even able to have fun together. It happened at Christmas 1914 on the Western Front near the town of Ypres in Flanders, western Belgium.
The First Battle of Ypres was underway. Roughly 100,000 British and German troops took part in this terrifying battle. However, the killing stopped by Christmas. German soldiers allegedly placed candles on their trenches and began singing Christmas carols.
The British responded by singing carols of their own. The two sides continued by shouting Christmas greetings to each other. Soon thereafter, the German soldiers emerged from their trenches unarmed and called on the British to join them.
In the no man’s land, they began exchanging small gifts, such as food, tobacco, alcohol, and other souvenirs. The artillery in the area fell silent. The truce also allowed a breathing spell during which recently killed soldiers could be brought back behind their lines by burial parties.
Also, joint services were held. Another way for both sides to spend time together during the ceasefire was to play football matches against each other.
This is evidenced by a number of veteran memoirs and also written sources, including contemporary newspapers. A letter written by a war doctor, published in The Times on January 1st, 1915, reported that there was "a football match played between them and us in front of the trench."
There were several more football matches. Soldiers from both sides were having fun playing football and forgot that they had been trying to kill each other just a few hours earlier.
Unfortunately, they had to go back to the orders that had led to this. In some places on the war front, the Christmas Truce lasted only through Christmas Day. In others, peace reportedly was until the New Year. Then the war continued.
During World War I, football matches became an opportunity for at least a temporary truce also on the Eastern Front. Football showed its magical and peace-making power also during several other armed conflicts.
Even in the tensest moments, such as wars, football demonstrated how powerful a social phenomenon it is. Football (and sports in general) proved that it can unite society, different nations, and all other groups of people who are at odds over anything.
Let's seize this potential and remember it not only at Christmas.