The Hollandia Soccer Club is the first club in Saskatchewan Province, Canada to participate in the Peace Field initiative.  The Peace Fields Project ceremony took place Sunday 26th September, 2021.  Hollandia Soccer Club’s close relationship with the The Saskatoon Soccer Centre and Saskatoon Youth Soccer, recognises the important connection that twins their peace pitch with Flanders Peace Field, Mesen, Belgium; site of the 1914 First World War Christmas Truces.

Royal Canadian Legion 63 Pipes & Drums

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Left to right: Austion Boryski, Hollandia Head Coach, Jodi Blackwell, CEO Saskatoon Soccer Centre, dalkdjf, Mick Gale, NCFA International Peace Fields Project Ambassador, Emil Highway, Bart Voswinkel, President of Hollandia, Mark Millard, President of Saskatoon Youth Soccer, Steven Ross, Percy Hoff, Hollandia Technical Director, Trevor Percy, Vice President of Hollandia, Alicia Osses, Secretary of Hollandia 

Left to right: Emil Highway, Mick Gale, Steven Ross

Mick Gale, NCFA’S International Peace Fields Project Ambassador (Left) and Bart Voswinkel, Hollandia Soccer Club, President (right), sign the Declaration for Peace certificates which advocate peace through play, equality and friendship.  A copy of the Declaration will be held by the Peace Village, Mesen, where a duplicate Hollandia Soccer Club Peace Plaque will be displayed, over-looking the Peace Pitch Flanders Peace Field.

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UPDATED: 09 11 21

Wednesday, 22nd September, Kowloon Cricket Club, Hong Kong, host a Junior Intra KCC tournament between hockey, football and cricket. 7 aside games, with 6 squads of 10 each participating. This will take place be in the morning from 8:30am – 12pm. Special edition Peace Field Project shirts have been made to celebrate the FIRST CRICKET PEACE PITCH IN THE WORLD and the first ever Peace Pitch in Hong Kong; twinning Kowloon’s peace pitch with Flanders Peace Field, Mesen, Belgium, site of the 1914 First World War Christmas Truces.

Directly after, the Club will have a women’s Cricket Open day, for all women to enjoy irrespective of level / ability. This will be from 12:30pm – 2:00pm.

From 2:30pm – 5:30pm we will be hosting a Women’s Invitational T20 Cricket match. The idea will be for everyone who has participated in the day to stay for the duration. Additionally, the club have partnered with FairBreak, a global organsiation focusing on improving women in sport, who are hosting an ICC International tournament in May 2022 at KCC. They have provided some memorabilia for the event.

There will be stalls and games around the ground for anyone to come down and a charity will be coming with a few children to participate. 

THE FIRST EVER PEACE PITCH IN CROATIA

16/09/2021

Remembering Ivan Šorić and celebrating peace through play.

UPDATE 04.08.21

Veli Vrh Pula Elementary School has submitted a project to the Peace Field Projects. It is a project that allows children and the local community to learn more about their history and heritage by participating in a comprehensive program of activities that culminates in an event where the school playground becomes a “Peace Pitch”. The project is linked to events related to the Christmas Truce that occurred at Christmas time in 1914 during World War I when German and British Allied soldiers on the Western battlefield briefly ended the conflict to meet on “no man’s land”.

The focus of this project is on the fate of Istrian teachers who were recruited during World War I and sent to the battlefield, mainly to Galicia. Many were killed. Among them was Ivan Šorić as well, a teacher at Veli Vrh Pula Elementary School, who died on the Eastern battlefield in October 1914.

He often remembered Istria, his home region on the battlefield. Furthermore, he left all his possessions to Istria and the Society of St. Cyril and Methodius: He lived for Istria, he was a teacher of children at the public school and before his death he remembered Istria, he remembered the society of  St. Cyril and Methodius to which he passed down his possessions after his mother’s death. In the letter, he says goodbye to his friends with these words: Be healthy and happy for me, and do not forget our miserable and poor Istria.

The project will aim at using football to raise our students’ sense of connection with their heritage through interdisciplinary learning and various workshops.

On September 16, 2021, we would celebrate the beginning of modern education in the Croatian language in Veli Vrh.

This can be seen in the 39th issue of Naša sloga from September 25, 1913, where September, 16 of the same year is mentioned as the opening date of a new public school in Veli Vrh. In front of this same school we would pay tribute to our late teacher Ivan Šorić.

After the commemorative part, a football match would be played between the Veli Vrh Pula Elementary School and the guests.

UPDATE 19.03.21

FOOTBALL PEOPLES WEEK 2020

THE FIRST EVER PEACE PITCH IN CROATIA is proposed to take place in 2020. Elementary school Veli Veli Vrh Pula is located in the town of the same name, Pula. The first school in the area began working in 1913 and records its work through several states. The school has been on several different locations until 2010, since when it’s on the current location. As a modern architectural work, the school was awarded with the World Golden Cube Award, which is the award for the most beautiful school building in 2010.

The school attend 600 students. The school complex also includes a kitchen, a dining room and a library. It has 12 classrooms for primary school students (6 to 10 years old) , while 16 classrooms are for upper grade elementary school students (11 to 15 years old) where professors have their own offices. The three-part sports gym has 500 seats, handball, volleyball, basketball and a  badminton court as well as equipment for table tennis. The outdoor playground is for handball and basketball, and the stands can accommodate over 1000 people.

Veli Vrh Football Club was founded in 1975 in the suburb  of the same name, in the town of Pula. It is currently competing in the First County League (the fifth grade of Croatian football). The club is known for its working with younger children and the activities of the club are reflected in the following categories: U7, U9, U11, Younger Pioneers, Pioneers, Cadets, Juniors, Seniors and Veterans. In the mentioned selections, 12 trained coaches work with more than 250 registered,  active footballers.

Through the organized activities Veli Vrh Football Club engage the residents of Veli Vrh and the citizens of Pula into doing sports. The club plays its matches at SRC Tivoli which has a standard football field and two more small football fields.

The school has its own web page. http://os-veli-vrh-pu.skole.hr/

The football club has its own web page and a facebook profile.

2019 GLOBAL PEACE GAMES, THE PEACE PITCH, PEACE VILLAGE, MESEN, BELGIUM

21^st SEPTEMBER

Strip away professional football’s: governing bodies, brands, corporations, media and the money, what are you left with?

A game of football!

If we were lucky? We will remember playing a game of football without lines, adults, referees, linesmen / women and the fear of win at all costs.  All we had to fear was being on time for dinner when our parents called us in after playtime.

The essence of football can be found in childhood memories: making friends, scoring your first ever goal, great saves and not forgetting, the feel-good factor.

It can be argued that the essence of football was briefly rediscovered in a space time and place, in the First World War.  The Space, No Man’s Land, the time 24^th December 1914 and the place, Flanders Field, Mesen, Belgium.  In an act of insubordination, Allied and German soldiers fraternized during a truce where they exchanged gifts and played games of football.  A truce in the First World War was an opportunity to collect the dead from no mans’ land.  Amongst the blood, mud and poetry*, this extraordinary act remains timeless when people of all ages, faiths and cultures visit and pay homage, at the site of the 1914 Christmas Truces.

Wyvern School from Kent, England, at the UEFA memorial to the Christmas Truces.

It is the Christmas Truces that connect the United Nation’s International Day of Peace with The National Children’s Football Alliance’s Global Peace Games (GPGs) facilitated at the Peace Village, Messines, Belgium, site of the 1914 Christmas Truces.

Through public funding, young mixed ability and mixed gender people, come together from diverse communities to participate through playing games of football, in a week long peace education programme: refugees, migrants, immigrants, public, private, state, special needs, and referral children, all experience the power of football.

The GPGs creates peace makers for the future.  How?  The Ambassadors for Peace explore the value of playing football in its many different forms in a location where tens of thousands of men and women died in conflict (First World War 16 million war dead – 9 million battle dead*).

Christmas Truces 1914

Young people connect with the environment and contextualise their own life experiences with that of the mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, from over 100 years ago.

Many of the children come from war torn countries, poverty stricken areas, communities of high deprivation, gangland neighbourhoods and many of the children come from: more affluent, inner cities and rural communities.  The key to the GPGs is social inclusion and not social selection.

Participants speak different languages; however, it is the universal language football that breaks down barriers and builds life long friendships.

The game is the teacher and the historical location is the learning environment.  A blend that connects, humanitarianism, creativity, confidence and fun.

Football breaks down barriers.  It is not a cliché. The essence of the game is best observed in primary school children when loosely supervised.  All children have abilities.  There is no child with no ability to participate in a children’s game of football.  Children will work out amongst themselves how to contribute in a game of football.  If it is not a level playing field in terms of equality – children will find a way to work it out.  The GPGs refers to this methodology and trusts the game of football to be the learning tool.

2019 Global Peace Games. 80 participants from 16 countries

Reminiscent of children’s playground football (jumpers for goal posts) loosely supervised games provide an opportunity for young people to reclaim their game.  A metaphoric act of subordination if you like?  No association rules, no brands, no great expectations and most importantly, no win at all costs.  It is important to add, that the games are no-less competitive, however, they are noticeably creative, inventive and explorative, just like the football games were at primary school age.

Many young people have the ability to contextualise their experiences from home with those young men and women of over 100 years ago.  Some young people can connect to conflict at home, in school or in their communities with the humanitarian act witness at the 1914 Christmas Truces.   They empathise with the soldiers’ fraternization, exchanging gifts and playing games of football.  It is the game of football that connects childhood with adulthood.  It is the game that metaphorically levels playing field.

In a state of war soldiers reverted back to childhood to momentarily escape the horror of war by playing a game of football.  This act chimes with many of the GPGs participants.  They recognise / empathize that in extreme times many people will revert back to happier times to help forget fear, which is summed up by a 2019 GPGs participant in the following quote by Pankaj, India:

‘When I feel sad, frightened and emotional, I play football to help me forget’.

Pankaj, India

Let us not forget the essence of football for fun.  The GPGs lends itself to the greatest team game on the planet.  What better way to celebrate International Day of Peace than play a game of football for fun?  The social inclusion factor has been well documented over the years in GPGs case studies

Football connects communities, families, schools, countries and continents; it’s a global game that brings peace in a world that craves it.

International Day of Peace, lends itself to football at the GPGs.  The game illustrates that languages may have changed, politics has changed and indeed to a degree, history has changed – however, what is clear is that the game of football remains as important in communities around the world now as it was over 100 years ago; in particular as a force for good in times of global concern.

Further viewing:

• Silent Night https://youtu.be/WUlPNWDvk-c

Further information about how the National Children’s Football Alliance projects:

http://www.childrensfootballalliance.com/

http://www.childrensfootballalliance.com/football-and-peace/

Index:

Blood, mud and poetry*, page 1:  http://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2017/07/john-lee-on-war-poetry-when-mud-and.html 

First World War 16 million war dead* page 2: https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I/Killed-wounded-and-missing

Rob Illingworth

Name; Rob Illingworth

Job title; Service Development Librarian, Local History- KCC Libraries, Registration & Archives.

(from 01/06/15: Community Heritage Services Officer- KCC Libraries, Registration & Archives.)

A brief explanation of your partner role and how Kent Libraries, Registration & Archives will support the Peace Fields Project?

If you explore the extensive local history collections of Kent Libraries, Registration & Archives you will find evidence of how the First World War touched and continues to touch all Kent communities. For the Peacefields project, we would especially like to help the project participants explore selected primary sources to find evidence of the impact of the war on Kent school communities. We will visit 5 project-hub schools to help with this work.

Why do you feel the PFP is important to young people and Kent Libraries, Registration & Archives?

The Peace Fields Project gives an opportunity for our staff, library volunteers & project participants to explore & highlight our First World War history resources & to link them with a dynamic programme of commemoration. In Kent, we have examples of post-war local commemorative schemes encompassing memorial sports fields, school sports pavilions and charity sports competitions etc. So it is imaginative & poignant that the young people involved in the Peacefields Project will renew the links between First World War commemoration & active sport. This will be powerfully symbolised through dedicating their own 21st century Peace Fields & through twinning these with the Flanders Peace Field.

Contact: Robert.Illingworth@kent.gov.uk

Rosalind Meredith

Name; Roz Meredith

Job title; Learning Officer, Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Art Gallery

A brief explanation of your partner role and how Maidstone Museum will support the Peace Fields Project?

We have a vast range of artefacts and resources at the Museum and are fortunate enough to have a collection of First World War objects that we are able to use with children and students. We are excited about being involved in the Peacefields project to support students in their understanding and empathy of this major time in recent history. We will host the 5 hub schools at the museum over 5 half days, so they can take part in a workshop run by an educational re-enactment group – “They Shall Grow Not Old …” (www.theyshallgrownotold.org.uk) focusing on the lives of soldiers during the First World War. This will include the use of and handling of real artifacts from the time.

Why do you feel the PFP is important to young people and Maidstone Museum?

The Peacefields Project is an opportunity for the Learning Team to be involved in a worthwhile project linking the resources we have available with a key commemorative event in Kent. The project gives opportunities to young people to explore and experience key moments of the First World War through the use of stories, artefacts and sport. Those involved in the Peacefields project will have the opportunity to connect with the past through the medium of sport linked to historical artefacts. The opportunity given to students is a positive reinforcement of events in our history that should not be forgotten.

Contact: Rosalindmeredith@maidstone.gov.uk

Emma Hanna

Name; Dr Emma Hanna

Job title; Co-Investigator, Gateways to the First World War

Gateways to the First World War is one of five Centres for Public Engagement with the Centenary of the First World War. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and based at the University of Kent, Gateways comprises a team of historians who specialise in the history of 1914-1918. The main objective of Gateways is to engage the public with the history of the First World War through various events such as study days and conferences, public lectures and workshops, and supporting organisations who are running activities or research projects related to the First World War.

Gateways is very happy to be involved with the National Children’s Football Alliance (NCFA) as a project partner in the Peace Fields Project. Our role will be to organise a study session at the University of Kent on both the war more generally and sport 1914-1918, incorporating a lecture by one of our specialist historians and a workshop on historical sources specifically tailored to the project foci of the schools attending the event.

Gateways is delighted to assist the NCFA in its role within the Peace Fields project as we believe that it has the potential to enhance knowledge of the reality of the conflict greatly and encourage young people to consider closely their own role as citizens.

For more information please see our website: www.gatewaysfww.org.uk

Contact: E.L.Hannah@greenwich.ac.uk

Name: Ruth Cavender

Job title: Learning Officer, War Memorials Trust

A brief explanation of your partner role and how the War Memorials Trust will support the Peace Fields Project?

War Memorials Trust (WMT) is the national charity that works for the protection and conservation of war memorials in the UK.  It provides advisory and advocacy services, financial assistance for repair and conservation through grant schemes and is a key referral point for all issues regarding war memorials.

WMT also aims to educate young people, the next generation of war memorial custodians, about the history and significance of war memorials through its Learning Programme which provides teaching materials for schools, project ideas for youth groups and clubs and offers visits to schools and youth groups to allow young people to participate in talks and lessons about key war memorial related issues. WMT supports the Peace Fields Project’s efforts to engage young people with remembrance, commemoration and the values to teamwork and comradeship. WMT will work collaboratively with the project to promote this.

Why you feel the PFP is important to young people and WMT?

As the First World War moves beyond living memory education, commemorative events and projects like the Peace Fields Project are vital in ensuring the events of the war continue to be learned about and remembered and, in turn, that our war heritage is protected.

In particular WMT recognises that it is crucial that young people, tomorrow’s war memorial custodians, understand the importance of our war memorial heritage and develop a wider knowledge of the reasons for remembrance. The Peace Fields Project is a wonderful opportunity to deepen understanding of the events around the 1914 Christmas Truces and in doing contribute to a legacy of remembrance. By using sport as a starting point for learning the Peace Fields Project has potential to engage many young people in particular and create a genuine, lasting interest among the next generation. The encouragement of regular sporting events will provide an enjoyable and accessible way for young children to begin to understand the First World War and particularly the events of the 1914 Christmas Truce. WMT hopes that this will become part of a wider interest and participation in commemoration and war memorial protection and is keen to work with the project to ensure this.

For more information please visit our website: http://www.warmemorials.org/ 

Contact: Ruth@warmemorials.org

DESIGNATED AREAS OF PLAY TWINNED WITH FLANDERS PEACE FIELD

National Children’s Football Alliance and the Peace Village, Mesen, Belgium, are commemorating WW1 and celebrating peace through the 1914 Christmas Truces by offering schools, clubs, groups and public play areas with the opportunity to twin a designated area of play with Flanders Peace Fields, site of the Christmas Truces.  This is open to all schools, clubs, groups and public play areas around the world.

This unique offer will directly link your area of play with one of the most famous fields in world history.  Flanders Peace Field lends itself to education in a way that brings cultures, young and old together.

In the week leading up to Christmas 1914 groups of German, British and allied soldiers stopped fighting to sing festive songs. Some on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day ventured in to “No man’s land” to exchange gifts and to play games of football.

Today the truces are remembered as a symbolic moment of peace and humanity. An action taken by soldiers caught up in the conflict that was The First World War. Arguably, the horrors of war made men turn to a form of childhood to play a game of football to momentarily forget their tragic situation.  It was a humanitarian act through the essence of play that every adult remembers in their childhood.

Declaration of Peace

The NCFA are providing schools, clubs, groups and public areas of play, the opportunity to twin their designated areas of play with the Flanders Peace Field. Working in partnership with the Peace Village, Messines, Belgium (site of the 1914 Christmas Truces) the Peace Field Project (PFP) invites you not only to commemorate wars but also to celebrate peace through reflecting on a moment in history that inspires humanitarianism.

Apply (FREE) on-line by submitting

AN EMAIL STATING PFP IN THE SUBJECT BOX TO THE NCFA: info@thecfa.co.uk

Participants in the PFP receive:

• Two Peace Field Project Plaques.  One displayed at the area of play and one displayed in Flanders
• A joint PFP certificate from NCFA and Peace Village / Flanders Peace Field
• A PFP kite mark
• Online links with Peace Village / Flanders Peace Field and NCFA’s Football & Peace website with access to forum / quarterly newsletters / events.
• Each PFP will have their home page on the Football & Peace website.

AIM

The aim of the PFP is to create AMBASSADORS FOR PEACE – peace makers for the future.  Young people (inspired by the 1914 Christmas Truces) will absorb the essence of why fair play is important and begin to understand that sport can transcend conflict and cement friendships for life.

Lest We Forget

The PFP lends itself to cross curricular activities: sports, history, literacy, arts, humanities, citizenship, community cohesion and intergenerational relationships.

All participants are invited to sign a PFP Declaration, pledging to hold peace games event once a year throughout the centenary years on their peace field to commemorate WW1 and celebrate peace.

The Peace Fields Project is open to all communities promoting sportsmanship and equal opportunities.

Download information here

FOOTBALL AND PEACE 

EVALUATION REPORT

First World War Centenary: one year to go

Communities across the UK begin marking the First World War Centenary thanks to Lottery funding

 99 years since the UK entered the First World War, communities across the country have been given the green light to start a range of projects that will mark the forthcoming Centenary thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

Grants announced  August 2013 include the first to be awarded through First World War: then and now, HLF’s £6million small grants programme announced by the Prime Minister at the Imperial War Museum last October which aims to help communities explore, conserve and share their First World War heritage.

Now, young people in Kent will explore the role of football during the 1914 Christmas Day Truce; blind and partially sighted groups in Wolverhampton will begin researching how the war advanced ophthalmic medicine; people across the UK will investigate the names commemorated on their local war memorials including Abbotskerswell in Devon; the contribution of Scotland’s nurses to the war effort will be shared and marked; whilst the story of soldiers from Bolton who fought and died at Gallipoli will be remembered.

Paul Cooper

HLF’s First World War: then and now forms part of the UK Government’s Centenary programme.  National Children’s Football Alliance Projects Director Paul Cooper said: ‘This an important time to remember and a period in history that young people should have the opportunity to discover, discuss and contemplate.  HLF’s forward thinking provides organisations like NCFA to engage all young people, which will help continue the remembrance link’.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Our duty with these commemorations is clear. To honour those who served. To remember those who died. And to ensure that the lessons learnt live with us for ever.”

Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of HLF, said:  “The impact of the First World War was incredibly far reaching. Our new programme only opened in May and already HLF has seen a great deal of interest in people wanting to commemorate this important Centenary, coming forward with a myriad of fascinating ideas for projects. This is just the beginning of some very interesting explorations for communities everywhere who will find their own individual ways of commemorating.”

HLF has already invested more than £15million in projects – large and small – that mark the Centenary of First World War.

Football & Peace Project – National Children’s Football Alliance, Kent (grant £32,500)

This project will use the iconic 1914 Christmas Day truce as a vehicle to explore the relationship between sport and the First World War. Local people across Kent, young and old, will research the impact of the War on local communities and will in particular look at the importance of recreation to soldiers during the conflict.  A documentary film of the project will be produced along with a website including the research and oral histories collected.  The project will culminate in a final exhibition at Maidstone United Football Club, Gallagher Stadium.

– AN EDUCATIONAL PROJECT FUNDED BY THE EU ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME –

Football Makes History brings together history educators and youth workers from all over Europe to develop new educational resources that can help young people explore European history and heritage through the lens of football, as well as use football to tackle social exclusion.

A website to talk about our two favorite subjects combined: football and history. Some of us work in formal (school) education (as teachers or developers of educational resources), others are working outside the school with youngsters. Some of us are football organisations. Most of us are working in, with, around, through football. We initiated a project, and with support of Erasmus+, are working closely together.

Click on the banner to find out more

PEACE TRIANGLE

North Coast Integrated College, Coleraine, twin their designated areas of play with Flanders Peace Field, Belgium, site of the First World War 1914 Christmas Truces. The twinning event will take place at the Christmas Carol Service 19th December, 2019.

UPDATED 16/12/19

North Coast Integrated College Peace Field Project

Remembering the importance of Peace at Christmas

Even in the darkest of life experiences there are opportunities to show humanity and kindness; this was evident when over 100 years ago in World War 1 when there was a truce on Christmas day. On Thursday 19^th December during our Christmas Carol Service we will formally twin our playing pitch at North Coast Integrated College with Flanders Peace Field. This is a symbolic twinning which will encourage pupils to learn about the First World War and the importance of respect for people on different sides- both on and off the pitch.

The strong integrated ethos at North Coast Integrated College provides a learning environment that promotes good relations among everyone in the school community. We believe that the curriculum of our integrated school encourages pupils to learn from History to shape the future. In Northern Ireland we are building peace and it is important that our young people learn and remember the devastation that conflict can bring. In World War 1 soldiers from all sides of Ireland bravely fought and died side by side. The bullets, bombs, gas and barbed wire didn’t care what religion their victims were.

The aim of the Peace Field Project is to create peace makers for the future.  Young people (inspired by the 1914 Christmas Truce) will absorb the essence of why fair play is important and begin to understand that sport can transcend conflict and cement friendships for life.

It is fitting that in the year that Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education and the Integrated Education Fund were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize that North Coast Integrated College highlights the importance or respect and fair play for all our young people.

Poem excerpt from Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate.

The Christmas Truce

All night, along the Western Front, they sang, the enemies- carols, hymns, folk songs. Anthems in German, English, French; each battalion choired in its grim trench.

So Christmas dawned, wrapped in mist, to open itself and offer the day like a gift

For Harry, Hugo, Hermann, Henry, Heinz….

With whistles, waves, cheers, shouts, laughs.