During Christmas of 1914, an extraordinary event occurred in the bleak and grim trenches of World War One’s Western front. As darkness fell on Christmas Eve, both the British and German soldiers began to sing and swap carols across the No Man’s land. The German soldiers began singing ‘Stille Nacht’ and the British soldiers responded with ‘O come all ye faithful’. On Christmas Day, both sides decided to put down their weapons and emerge from their trenches to shake hands and greet each other. On that day, they buried casualties, repaired their trenches and even exchanged small gifts. They then played an impromptu game of football and for this very short time, the fighting and animosity ceased.
This short and unofficial ceasefire is seen as a symbolic moment of peace and humanity in the midst of one of the most violent events of human history.
With 2018 marking the 100th year anniversary of the end of World War One, a special football match in memory of this Christmas truce was celebrated locally at Rosslyn Park. One of the teams was captained by famous comedian Jack Whitehall whose family live in Putney. His celebrity 11 included Jamie Redknapp, Lawrence Dallaglio, John Bishop and Tubes. They played against a Commemorative 11 of the Royal Fusiliers-the descendant regiment of those who played in the original match.
There was a good crowd to cheer both sides on. To everyone’s surprise, the celebrities were very impressive and aggressive on the pitch. Jack Whitehall both scored 2 excellent goals and then after a closely fought match between the 2 sides, it went to penalties. It seemed to all the crowd that the Royal Fusiliers had the advantage but suddenly, Jack Whitehall’s team finished it off and to everyone’s amazement, won the match. It was overall a very memorable and moving way to remember the Christmas Truce Match from 1914 during World War One.
