Any mention of football and the First World War will evoke the Christmas Truce of 1914 and the football match played in No Man’s Land. At the time many denied that a truce had occurred, let alone a football match between the combatants. This talk uses British Army War Diaries, individual soldier’s diaries, letters and newspapers to examine how citizen diplomacy apparently subverted the wishes of higher command, at least temporarily, to possibly have allowed some soldiers to enjoy a game for Christmas.
Iain Adams is the Principal Lecturer at the International Football Institute, a research partnership between The University of Central Lancashire and The National Football Museum. He lectures in sports history and culture and has published papers on the Christmas Truce and the football charges of the Great War.