Match of the Day Wednesday, December 19th, 2007
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Christmas draweth nigh…as if we didn’t know it.
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Christmas moves the thoughts of many of us to that moment in 1914 when elements of the armies facing each other along the Western Front declared local, unofficial truces between them. Famously officers hosted their opponents for dinner, German barbers set up shop in no man’s land and the world’s strangest, most inspirational football international took place. I met someone who had interviewed a veteran who’d been involved in one of these matches and he said that the Germans won on penalties!
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You know all this. What you may not know is that the truce didn’t take place everywhere but it did take place at Ploegsteert, in fact Bruce Bairnsfather records it in trenches immediately north of our site. Is it possible that the fields we traversed during our work saw the Match of the Day 1914?
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So may the Peace of 1914 be yours at Christmas, especially to readers in “hot spots”, dear reader, and good things follow you through the year. This blog will be resting over the Festive Season but will be back shortly with exciting news, such as the 2008 season and our plans to dig more holes, as well as conferences, lectures and miniature battlefields that are connected with the project. The mini battlefield isn’t a wargame by the way but I can say no more now.
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Happy Christmas
Frohe Weinachts
Joyeux Noel
Goioe Kerstmis (I think that’s right for Flemish)
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