Every school in the country is being asked to hold a football match to mark the hundredth anniversary of the games that took place during the World War 1 Christmas Truce this December.
The call to action comes as part of the Football Remembers project – a collaboration between the British Council, The FA, the Football League and the Premier League – which will see every level of football mark the anniversary in a week of commemoration between 6 – 14 December.
Schools are being asked to hold special matches - and mark the occasion by getting both teams to pose together for a photo and tweeting it using the hashtag #FootballRemembers. The photos will be uploaded automatically to a Football Remembers website to create a permanent online tribute to the soldiers who laid down their arms on Christmas Day 1914. The schools’ photos will feature alongside those of the country’s biggest footballing names.
More than 30,000 schools across the UK have already received a Football Remembers education pack. It includes resources to help children learn about the Truce – including eye-witness accounts, photos, drawings and letters from soldiers some of which have never been published before.
HRH The Duke of Cambridge – President of The FA – said: “We all grew up with the story of soldiers from both sides putting down their arms on Christmas Day, and it remains wholly relevant today as a message of hope over adversity, even in the bleakest of times.”
Vicky Gough, Schools Adviser at the British Council, said: “The impromptu games of football that happened along the Western Front 100 years ago are an incredible example of how people-to-people connections can triumph in the midst of a global conflict. It’s a powerful lesson for all our children – so we hope that every school in the UK will join this national act of remembrance.”