A century after the 1914 Christmas truce took place, top footballers, including Manchester City's Vincent Kompany, Wojciech Szczesny (Arsenal), and  Charlie Austin, of Queens Park Rangers, and managers have appeared on the FootballRemembers.com website reciting a special poem in their name.

The video brings to a close Football Remembers, the series of programmes and events delivered jointly by the Premier League, the Football Association and the Football League, in partnership with the Poetry Society and the British Council, to commemorate the first world war.

Work on the poem, written by Ian McMillan, pictured, started in mid-November during the Christmas Truce National Tournament held in Ypres. The Poetry Society and Premier League worked together to enhance the educational aspect of the trip for the 320 young footballers representing all 20 Premier League clubs taking part in the tournament.

Leading poets accompanied the under-12s as they visited British and Commonwealth and German cemeteries, memorials and the graves of former footballers. They helped them produce their own poems inspired by their visit. These explored their feelings about the first world war, the Christmas Day Truce of 1914 and its fabled football matches.

Their poems were then distilled into the final piece written by Ian McMillan called ‘The Game: Christmas Day 1914’. It received its premiere in the Houses of Parliament on 9 December when it was read by two under- 12 Liverpool players. Now the professional game has added its voices and faces.

The full list of those speaking in the poem [in order of appearance]:  Vincent Kompany, Manchester City; Wojciech Szczesny, Arsenal; Charlie Austin, Queens Park Rangers; John O’Shea, Sunderland; Matt Bloomfield, Wycombe Wanderers; Sir Trevor Brooking; Gary Neville; referee      Howard Webb; Steve McClaren, manager, Derby County; Steven Taylor, Newcastle United; Jack Butland, Stoke City; Ashley Williams, Swansea City; Alan Irvine, West Bromwich Albion; Ian Holloway, Millwall; Morgan Schneiderlin, Southampton; Mark Schwarzer, Chelsea.

The poem reading opens with a verse from Belgian and Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany. It concludes with Chelsea and Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, whose involvement brings the programme full circle.

Schwarzer’s Chelsea teammate Eden Hazard kicked off Football Remembers in May 2014 when the partners launched a Football Remembers education pack that was sent to more than 30,000 schools across the UK. Since then there have been an array of legacy projects that ensure young people will continue to learn about the First World War for decades to come.

Ian McMillan wrote the poem based on the work of over 300 young footballers from all 20 English Premier League under-12 teams, who have written poems about the first world war battlefields of Flanders.

Since 2011, the Premier League has held the under-12s Christmas Truce international tournament in Ypres, Belgium, developed to honour the Christmas truce football matches that took place on the western front in December 1914. This year poets Simon Barraclough, Steve Ely, Chris McCabe, Nick Makoha, Deanna Rodger and Poetry Society director Judith Palmer accompanied the under-12s and helped them produce their own poems inspired by their visit, exploring their feelings about the first world war and the original Christmas truce football matches in 1914, where soldiers laid down their arms on Christmas Day to play football together. Their poems were then distilled into the final piece by Ian McMillan.

McMillan said:  “It's been exciting and humbling to work with the words proved by the young footballer/writers, proving once again that poetry is a real team sport!” Deanna Rodger, who was the poet-coach for Hull, Chelsea, Stoke and Leicester, added: “Walking around war memorials is emotionally and morally challenging as an adult; to see these sites through these young boy-footballers’ eyes brought a perspective of wonder and clever curiosity.”

 

The Game: Christmas Day 1914

 

It is so cold.

The lines of this poem are sinking

Into the unforgiving mud. No clean sheet.

Dawn on a perishing day. The weapons freeze

In the hands of a flat back four.

The moon hangs in the air like a ball

Skied by a shivering keeper.

All these boys want to do today

Is shoot, and defend, and attack.

Light on a half-raised wave. The trench-faces

Lifted till you see their breath.

A ball flies in the air like a moon

Kicked through the morning mist.

All these boys want to have today

Is a generous amount of extra time.

No strict formations here, this morning;

No 4-4-2 or 3-5-1

No rules, really. Just a kickabout

With nothing to be won

Except respect. We all showed pictures,

I learned his baby’s name.

Now clear the lines of this poem

And let’s get on with the game.

No white penalty spot, this morning,

The players are all unknown.

You can see them in the graveyards

In teams of forgotten stone;

The nets are made of tangled wire,

No Man’s Land is the pitch,

A flare floodlights the moments

Between the dugouts and the ditch.

A hundred winters ago sky opened

To the sunshine of the sun

Shining on these teams of players

And the sounds of this innocent game.

All these boys want to hear today

Is the final whistle. Let them walk away.

It has been so cold. The lines

Of these poems will be found, written

In the unforgotten mud like a team sheet.

Remember them. Read them again.

 

© Ian McMillan

 

http://www.footballremembers.com/