The British Council, the Football Association, Premier League and Football League invite all involved with football, from fans to players in the top flight, to join in remembering the Christmas truce.
Matches taking place in the Barclays Premier League, Sky Bet Championship and the FA Cup Second Round (December 6th– 8th ) will start with players posing together in group photographs as a mark of respect to those who played football during the 1914 truce. The pictures will be uploaded to www.footballremembers.com
Fans, teams and schools will also be asked to upload their pre-match pictures to the same site via social media over the course of Football Remembers Week. Any match of any size can be included, from school to Sunday league fixtures, five-a-side matches to kickabouts in the back garden.
Football Remembers will also unveil the UK’s first memorial to the Christmas truce, during a ceremony attended by Prince William, at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire on December 12th.
The monument was designed by a 10-year-old Newcastle schoolboy as part of a nationwide competition in the UK.
The National Memorial Arboretum is also offering 90-minute guided tours of the site and its memorials on December 13/14th.
UEFA, European football’s governing body, will unveil its memorial close to the truce site at Saint Yves, near Ploegsteert, during a ceremony attended by UEFA President Michel Platini on December 11th.
Source: IWM/ First World War Centenary Partnership
Images: Centenary News
Posted by: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News