The Beautiful Game: Remembering The First World War Through Football

More than 170 footballers under the age of 12 have been taking part in a tournament in Belgium inspired by the story of the First World War Christmas Truce.

The competition was set up by the Premier League in 2011 and aims to teach young people about the First World War.

Their countries may have once fought each other on the Western Front – but in peacetime their only rivalry is on the football pitch.

The Premier League Christmas Truce Tournament brings together Under 12 teams for a weekend that is half football, half education.

Neil Saunders, Head of Premier League Youth, spoke about the special resonance of this particular football tournament:

“The messages around friendship, peace and reconciliation really resonates with them.

"They’re at an age now where those messages really resonate with them”.

Away from the pitch, the young football stars visited First World War cemeteries, battlefields and memorials.

Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood paid the teams a visit, commenting on the special importance of teaching the youth of today about the war:

“It’s so important for younger people to understand that the peace we experience in the UK shouldn’t be taken for granted, and we should always remember that sacrifices have been made”.

From Plugstreet to the Menin Gate, the moving Memorial to the Missing remembers 54,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers who have no known grave.

And numbering amongst the dead are footballers from these boy’s teams.

This year was a particularly significant one; 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele.

For the boys to earn a place on the tournament, West Ham and Middlesborough under 12s worked on a project called ‘Passchendaele at Home’.

They were tasked with researching those who had died from their wounds once they had returned home.

But back on the pitch, there were goals aplenty in the modern-day tribute to a century-old story, and the weekend seemed to have made quite an impression on the young players:

“It’s been exciting but also shocking and emotional, because we see what they’ve done for us to be here today”.