For marrying innocence and joy with tragedy, few historic events come close to the events of Christmas Day in 1914. So powerful is the image of soldiers laying down arms to take up a football that the match of the 1914 Christmas Truce has become the inspiration for plays, films, novels, songs - and even a Sainsbury's Christmas advert. For one eye witness, it was the British who produced a ball and tempted the Germans into a contest. 'Men have been talking together, and they had a football match with a bully beef tin, and one man went over and cut a German's hair.' While the Christmas truce was limited to certain sections of the Western Front, with an estimated 100,000 men taking part, not all those involved in the temporary truce felt comfortable taking part in the sport.

Source: Daily Mail December 26, 2025 00:27 UTC