War: 1914
Football became the most popular sport
in the world. In England the game was becoming an
important part of national life. The King even
attended an FA Cup Final.
In 1914 the First World War started, and international
football stopped for four years. Millions of young men from
different F.I.F.A countries fought each other in the fields
of France and Belgium. On one single morning alone more
than 250,000 soldiers were killed in battle.
At the beginning of the war the different armies were lined
up opposite each other in fields - like football teams! One
British army officer offered a prize to ‘the first man to
score a goal past the Germans’. Kicking a ball in front of
him, the officer led the attack. He was shot dead and most
of his men were also killed.
Christmas:
1914
At Christmas in 1914 there was
a ‘cease-fire’ and fighting stopped for seven days. During
this week, soldiers from the two armies played football
together. -
Sadly, the Christmas cease-fire was not repeated, and the
war continued until 1918.