Monday Milestone: Silent Night
“So this is Christmas, and what have you done?
Another year over, and a new one just begun”
– John Lennon, ‘Happy Christmas (War is Over)
1914, December 24
A Christmas truce is called when English and German soldiers lay down their guns on the Western Front, and begin the most remarkable soccer game ever played.
As sports fans, we hear a number of quirky stories along the way. Greg Norman’s hitting golf balls into Hong Kong Harbour; Jack Brabham pushing his car across the line to finish a race; WG Grace’s blunt refusal to acknowledge any number of dismissals…
But the favourite here at the Milestone with the yuletide upon us, occurred almost a hundred years ago somewhere in Belgium, at a time when the landscape looked very different…
The Delorean is parked this week in the winter of 1914 when diggers had converged on Europe, and were fighting the Great War for their respective Empires. So far, all had not gone to plan. Christmas was approaching, with many being promised it would be over by now.
Yet by December 24, here they were, amid the cold, the mud, the blood, the stench, the death and there was no more miserable place, especially for many soldiers spending their first Christmas away from their families.
But despite the hellish conditions, something extraordinary happened that evening. Inspired from packages sent from home, the Germans began singing, remarkably filling Flanders with the sound of Christmas carols. Truly amazing, given the location, but what happened next was even more astonishing. The English joined in. And on it went.
The next morning, Christmas morning, the benevolence continued. First, placards appeared above the trenches stating, ‘You no fight, we no fight. Merry Christmas’. Then, after peering apprehensively, soldiers from both sides climbed out of the trenches and met in no mans land. The parcels from back home were exchanged as gifts. The season of goodwill had won them over.
Imagine that scene for a moment: No mans Land; that appalling place between opposing trenches, full of rotting corpses with vacant eyes that stare at you. The land where certain death ordinarily awaits is transformed into a congregation of laughter and jokes on Christmas Day, with guns back in the trenches. And during that time, one of the most unique moments in sporting history occurred. The English produced a ball and they began the most remarkable football match ever played. Prompting one German officer, Kurt Zehmisch to note: “The English brought a soccer ball from the trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued. How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was”. Accounts differ, some indicate it was not a traditional game – but others suggest the Germans actually won the match 3-2. I guess it was nice that they won something….
But that football match, that day played in the most extraordinary of circumstances gives the entire Christmas season perspective. Whilst it was only the briefest respite from the war horrors (they would return to the trenches the next day) it speaks volumes about what is truly important this time of year.
So, here at the Milestone as we pack the car and head off for Christmas, we wish you and yours, a happy Christmas, a safe Christmas, and here’s hoping the big guy in the red suit finds you.
The Milestone Five: Christmas Sport throughout the world
5. 2011: After two months of cancelled season, the NBA reaches an agreement with players, ending the lockout
4. 1888: First indoor baseball match played at fairgrounds in Philadelphia
3. 1951: First Christmas Test played between Australia and West Indies in Adelaide
2. 1971: Longest NFL Game (82 minutes, 40 seconds) between the Dolphins and the Chiefs. The dolphins win 27-24
1. 1914: England and Germany play soccer between the Western Front trenches during the Christmas Truce
