Football United invited The Children’s Football Alliance to the first ever Peace Field Project Peace Pitch in Australia. The children and staff of Miller Technology High School, Sydney, welcomed the CFA’s Ernie Brennan and Paul Cooper. The guys facilitated games that are played at the Global Peace Games, Peace Village, Mesen, Belgium. Football United’s Pru, Noor, Natashia and Anne Bunde-Birouste, founder of Football United, joined in the activities which were described by football player Mohamed as fun fun fun.

‘There is a great sense of community through play on the peace pitch and there is a lot of self-learning with children from diverse back grounds‘ Pru

‘The kids enjoyed it and the staff enjoyed it too. Our Peace Pitch brings young and old together through play. We celebrate diversity and the Peace Pitch lends itself to sportsmanship and friendship‘ Natasha.

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‘Everytime the kids come here to play they are reminded why we are here together. We are a special football club that values peace and harmony’ Anne Bunde-Birouste, founder of Football United

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SOUTHLAND FOOTBALL LINK

PEACE FIELD PROJECT OCTOBER 2024

UPDATE 09/10/24

The Children’s Football Alliance were special guests at Southland Football, Turnbull Thomson, Park, Invercargill, New Zealand.

‘The first Peace Field Project peace pitch in New Zealand has been a huge success,’ Iain Walker, Football Development & Operations Manager.

‘A lot of people, young and old, connect with the Peace Pitch. It is an added dimension for football coaches and facilitators. The peace pitch promotes sportsmanship and friendship in a way that gets people talking‘. Alexander, Volunteer Football Coach.

The Children’s Football Alliance delivered Peace Field Project workshops for 6 to 10 yr olds and 11 to 13 yr olds. ‘The story of the Christmas truces is amazing‘. Findlay, Footballer.

The Children’s Football Alliacne’s Paul Cooper (left) presented Southland Football’s Iain Walker (right) with a CFA shirt. ‘The work Southland Football do for all communities is examplary. It is testament to them that the Peace Field Project’s peace pitch is at the heart of their feel good factor‘.

For more information about Southland Football’s Peace Field Project READ HERE

Peace kaupapa: Bringing the Peace Pitch project to Invercargill last week are Children’s Football Alliance Charitable Trust founder Ernie Brennan (left) and co-founder Paul Cooper near the Troopers’ Memorial monument.

PHOTO: NINA TAPU

PEACE education through play is at the heart of an international children’s charity that has left its mark on a Southland football pitch.

Founders of the Children’s Football Alliance (CFA) placed a plaque at the Southland football pitch as part of the Peace Field Project last week.

CFA co-founder Paul Cooper said the aim of the project was to teach children peace education through sport, music and the arts.

There are 75 peace pitches in six continents and the idea was based around the Christmas truce in Belgium.

During World War 1, on Christmas Eve, there were several Christmas truces where the fighting stopped for a time.

In 1914, Allied soldiers met German soldiers in no-man’s land.

They buried their dead, exchanged gifts, showed pictures of their loved ones and, in some cases, took their jackets and helmets off, and had a game of football, Cooper said.

Last week, Cooper and fellow cofounder Ernie Brennan, along with Iain Walker from Football Southland, placed a plaque at the football pitch at Turnbull Thompson Park, acknowledging the International Day of Peace which was on September 21.

‘‘If you can have a game of football against your enemy during a world war, maybe anything is possible,’’ Brennan said.

‘‘So what we do is that when a pitch is twinned, a plaque goes on to their pitch, like what we’ve just done with Southland Football.

‘‘The other plaque goes on the Peace Pitch in Flanders, Belgium, which is the most important football pitch in the world, in terms of its significance.

‘‘Once you’ve twinned a pitch, children from your community can go to the Flanders Peace Pitch for a week in September,’’ Brennan said.

Last month, about 60 children from 20 countries. including Northern Ireland, Scotland, Croatia and India, attended the Peace Field Project for a week of peace education through play in Belgium.

Among them were tamariki who were from war-torn countries and refugees.

‘‘There were children who came from Delhi in India who lived in the slums and who’d never been out of Delhi, let alone a different continent.

‘‘And then there were refugee children that were based in Belgium from a number of different countries who had come for a week of peace,’’ he said.

The charitable trust encouraged equity and diversity and ensured there were an equal share of genders, abilities and backgrounds playing all types of sports and taking part in the programme.

‘‘They come from different communities, and that’s how they connect. so they can contextualise today with the historic of what happened over a hundred years ago.

‘‘It’s pretty hard to turn against different communities when you’ve grown up playing together.’’

The trust’s founders hope the placing of plaques at peace pitches in Aotearoa, Australia, Samoa, Fiji and Tonga will spur children to ask the question: ‘‘What is a peace pitch?’’

Marist Brothers High School, Suva, Fiji

Marist Brothers High School is a Roman Catholic all-boys’ high school situated in Suva, the capital of Fiji. It is a school in the Marist tradition, founded in 1946 by the order of Marist Brothers, which has had a presence in Fiji since 1844.

The first Fijian Contingent left for Britain in January 1915. After further training in Britain they fought in the battles of Flanders. Nine Fijian soldiers lost their lives and 31 were wounded. A second Fijian Contingent left for Britain in July of that same year.

The first Peace Field Project Peace Pitch in Fiji is twinned with The Peace Pitch, Flanders, Mesen, Belgium, site of the 1914, First World War, Christmas truces.

St Joseph’s College (Marist Brothers) Apia, Samoa.

Throughout 1914, many Samoan-born men enlisted in their homelands and went on to fight at Gallipoli, the Western Front, and various places in France and Belgium. They were employed in the munitions depots with the Rarotongans, doing extremely dangerous work.

The first Peace Field Project Peace Pitch in Samoa will be twinned with Flanders Peace Field, Mesen, Belgium, site of the 1914 First World War, Christmas truces.

Beeslack Community High School was established in 1984. It serves the northern tip of Penicuik and its surrounding areas. Our current role is around 750 pupils. As a relatively small school, we know our pupils well and positive relationships are consistently identified as one of our key strengths. We have strong relationships with our associated primary schools (Bilston Primary; Mauricewood Primary and Roslin Primary) and we work closely with them to ensure pupils experience a smooth transition from primary school to high school. We also have a number of pupils from out with catchment, all of which makes for a diverse and close-knit school community. At Beeslack we have a saying that encapsulates this sense of community and togetherness: ‘Once at Beeslack, always at Beeslack.’ 

‘Step up and Play’ are four schools in central Barrow-in-Furness, working together outside school time, with help through the Furness Education and Skills Partnership. 

We want to make sure that all children aged 4-11 in Central Barrow (where nearly 50% of the children currently live in poverty)  get as many chances as everyone else to join a local sports club if they wish. They do this by helping children attend training, practising and competitions. Schools provide transport and escorts to the different sports clubs by picking the children up and dropping them off in the evenings and on Saturdays. In the last three years, over two hundred local children have been supported and many are playing regular competitive sport, including many at Boyd Park. 

The primary business of Barrow Celtic is  as  a junior football club; to provide opportunity for all to perform on the football field to the best of their ability. However, the Club has a wider role and the responsibility of being a major Barrow social institution promoting mental and physical health, well being and inclusion of all children and families. Barrow Celtic Juniors are a club for everyone and anyone in the Furness area who believes in the power of football to enhance the lives of our young people- giving them positive memories, values and habits as well as an appreciation of the game itself.

Our peace field, Boyd Park is named for Barrow Celtic Juniors’ legendary chairman Dennis Boyd- who we have chosen as our Peace Ambassador. A founding member of the junior sections in 1953, Dennis was involved with the club through coaching and serving on the board from then until a few years ago. Thousands of children and families have benefitted from his hard work and dedication to providing football for generations of players.

The four schools; St George’s C of E School, Sacred Heart RC Primary Academy, Ramsden Infants and Greengate Junior School’s met other schools for a friendly tournament on Boyd Park on 11^th November 2024 in the name of Peace. 

STONES IN THE COMMUNITY REPORT YEAR ENDING 2024

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE TOURNAMENT

Maidstone United Football Club is the first Kent club to twin with Flanders Field Peace Pitch, Mesen, Belgium, site of the First World War Christmas truces. The Gallagher Stadium’s Peace Pitch celebrated International Day of Peace with 34 schools from across Kent playing for the U11s boys Peace Trophy.

Left to right: Mayor of Maidstone, Councillor, John Perry, Lorraine Humm, Stones in the Community, Helen Grant, OBE, Member of Parliament for Maidstone and Malling and Ernie Brennan, CEO, Children’s Football Alliance.

On behalf of the Children’s Football Alliance, Helen Grant, MP, presented MUFC’s Lorraine Hum and Tori Campbell, The Peace Field Project Plaque. A duplicate plaque is displayed in Flanders Peace Field.

Maidstone United Football Club’s Peace Field Project Plaque is displayed in Flanders.

Helen Grant, MP and Bob Goulston, MUFC, sign the Peace Field Project’s Declaration of Peace Certificate. There are currently 70 Peace Pitchs in 6 continents:

INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FOOTBALL ALLIANCE

Stones in the Community is the charitable arm of Maidstone United Football Club, founded on the principles of hard work, determination, passion and integrity. Opening for business in October 2018 we work alongside the club to deliver the best programmes for the community we serve.

THE PEACE FIELD PROJECT celebrates 10 Years

Left to right: Dima Gofman (CFA), Stijn Delaere (Peace Village), Patrick Farrell (Football Makes History), Sally Meysman (Peace Village), Joachim Jonckheere (Passchendaele Museum), Veronika Dobrovská (SK Slavia Praha), Dirk Van der Maelen (Peace Village), Jonathan Even Zohar (Football Makes History), Filip Delmotte (Peace Village), Gijestert Oonk (Football Makes History), Hakan Sjoestrand (UEFA FFC), Philippe Servais (Club Brugge Foundation), Keir Doherty (CFA), Aaron Joeseph (CFA), Peter Mann (Commonwealth Trust), Hugh Utting (British Embassy to Belgium), Paul Cooper (CFA), Mohamed Farhan (Global Peace Games Ambassador for Peace), Affy Sheikh (Star Lizard Integrity Services), John Carmichael (Commonwealth Trust), Philippe Wall (Commonwealth Trust), Debbie Sayers (CFA), Sonja Hinz (Commonwealth War Graves Commission), Malin Mueller (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) & Roel Timperman (Commonwealth War Graves Commission).

The Peace Field Project Plaques: Cirencester Town Football Club, England, Mako Soccer Club, Florida, USA, Royal Artillery Barracks Woolwich and Charlton Athletic Community Trust, England, Peace Field Project plaques a twinned with The Peace Pitch, Mesen, Flanders, Belgium, site of the First World War, Christmas Truces.

Speakers left to right: Ernie Brennan (CEO, CFA), Paul Cooper (Director, CFA), Sally Meysman (Manager, Peace Village), Hakan Sjoestrand (UEFA FFC), Hakan Sjoestrand (UEFA FFC), Roel Timperman (Commonwealth War Graves Commission), Jonathan Even Zohar (Football Makes History), Gijestert Oonk (Football Makes History), Mohamed Farhan (Global Peace Games Ambassador for Peace) & Affy Sheikh (Star Lizard Integrity Services)

Paul Cooper (second left ) with Members of Mesen Council displaying the Royal Artillery Barracks Woolwich and Charlton Athletic Community Trust, Peace Field Project plaque twinned with The Peace Pitch, Mesen, Flanders, Belgium, site of the First World War, Christmas Truces.

Mr Amemiya (left in picture with Ernie Brennan, CFA) is the gentleman behind the first ever peace pitch in Japan at Vent Foret Kofu, Yamanashi. Mr Amemiya sent a video message to the International Children’s Football Alliance’s Peace Field Projects 10th Anniversary Open Day congratulating everyone for their devotion to peace through play. Mr Amemiya is the inventor of the a heavy duty vehicle that clears minefields Vietnam, Angola, Thailand, Columbia, Afghanistan and Nicoragua. He has dedicated his life to the humanitarin mission. The International Children’s Football Alliance are proud to have Mr Amemiya and Vent Foret Kofu Football Club on board the Peace Field Projects.

The Commonwealth Flag for Peace presented by Peter Mann (Commonwealth Trust, right) too Sally Meysman (Peace Village, left).

To book accommodation for the 10th ANNIVERSARY PEACE FIELD PROJECT OPEN DAY contact:

Peace Village VZW

Nieuwkerkestraat 9a, 8957 Mesen
T +32 57 226 040
info@peacevillage.be

CIRENCESTER TOWN FOOTBALL CLUB

‘The Club are delighted to have close links with the Children’s Football Alliance. Cirencester Town F.C acknowledges the value of twinning our designated area of play with Flanders Peace Field and the Peace Pitch at the Peace Village, Mesen, Belgium. ‘ Alan Lloyd

Cirencester’s WW1 Memorial

Cirencester Memorial Centre (Apsley Hall), Sheep Street, Cirencester, Cotswold, Gloucestershire. GL7 1RQ

Frieze on facade: TO THE MEMORY OF OUR GLORIOUS DEAD 1914 – 1919 Frieze above porch: THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE Tablets: ROLL OF HONOUR./ (Names) Plaque above door: THIS HALL WAS GIVEN BY EARL BATHURST AND/ WAS ALTERED TO ITS PRESENT PURPOSE BY/ SUBSCRIPTIONS FROM THE EARL & COUNTESS/ AND THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN AND DISTRICT/ AS A THANK OFFERING FOR THE VICTORY WON/ AND FOR PEACE

The signing of the Peace Field Project (PFP) Declaration for Peace Certificate pledges the club to support peace through play. CTFC will receive their PFP plaque at their twinning ceremony in November 2023 around the time for Remembrance Day.