A mini audiobook - for the time to think in the evenings after the presents have all been unwrapped, or for a listen with the children:
As the story goes, on Christmas 1914, during world war 1, in the trenches of Belgium, German and English soldiers laid down their weapons, shook hands, and played a game of football in the no man’s land between the lines. Historians are unsure if an actual match was played, you can find more on that debate in the shownotes. But for today, that is neither here nor there. At the very least, on that day, the possibility of football pointed beyond the war. And so, this Christmas, 2023, we’ll pause our regular conversations.
I will be reading from the award winning children’s book The War Game, by Michael Foreman, from 1994. Foreman narrates the story of Freddie, Billy, Lacey and Will, avid soccer playing teenagers from the English countryside, who find themselves caught up in the euphoria of flag-waving and patriotism when war breaks out in 1914. "We'll be back by Christmas," they think. By Christmas however they are in the muddy trenches, as a soccer ball emerges between the battle lines. Whether the story ends in tragedy or in hope remains up to you.
HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Michael Foreman, War Game
The Christmas Truce: What Really Happened in the Trenches in 1914? (Video by the Imperial War Museum, London)
History Extra with 2 historians’ perspectives on whether a football match actually took place
"Comfort Comfort O My People" - sung by Conrad Grebel University chapel choir (Words: Johann G. Olearius (1611–1684); tr. Catherine Winkworth (1827–1878), alt.; Music: Psalm 42, melody and bass Claude Goudimel (1514–1572);)
"Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht" - performed by "Cesar All Guitar" (Words: Joseph Mohr (1818); Music: Franz Xaver Gruber (1818)
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Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind
Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/