THE FIRST PEACE FIELD PROJECT PEACE PITCH, NEW ZEALAND
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?’’
PEACE FIELD PROJECT OCTOBER 2024
Iain Walker, Southland Football, Invercargill, New Zealand. Over three thousand children participate, follow and support Southland Football. Mixed gender and mixed ability players advocate all forms of football for all.
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‘.
UPDATE 20/12/23
Southland Football annual Christmas game.
The game was played on Friday 15th December between NZ v Internationals (The Internationals were represented by Columbia, Thailand, Finland, Scotland & England). The game finished 3 all and the Internationals won 4-2 on penalties.
Zach (centre of pic) holding the Peace Poppy Ball. A moments silence was observed before play commenced.
On behalf of Southland Football have a lovely Christmas and all the very best for 2024.
Cheers,
Iain.
UPDATE 24/10/23
A local tournament hosted on Southland Peacefield by Old Boys AFC.
A seven a side event which had 78 teams entered across the Saturday and Sunday of 16th & 17th September. The pic above illustrating the popularity of the Sunday teams.
The Club also hosted South Island Boys Under 13 tournament Thursday 28th September to Saturday 30th September.
Photos from our recent U13 boys South Island Tournament that we hosted between 28th – 30th September at our Peacefield.
We had 10 teams competing over the 3 days with Cashmere Technical from Christchurch taking the top prize.
Southland Football will be running a Christmas game in December – no date confirmed yet. Southland Football host it every year to commemorate the Xmas day game. The will play NZ v Rest of the World theme. All games will take place on their Peace Field.
Mick Gale, The CFA’s International Peace Field Project Ambassador presents Southland Football Club’s Nobby Clark, Mayor of Invercargill, Russell Bell, Vietnam vetran and Referees official Nick Hamlin president Southland F. A. their Peace Field Project Plaque, Commemorative Peace Poppy Football and Declaration for Peace Certificate; officially twinning the Invercargil Peace Pitch with Flanders Peace Field.
PRESS RELEASE
Southland Football, Turnball Thomson Park, Invercargill, New Zealand, will twin their designated area of play with Flanders Peace Field, Mesen, Belgium, site of the First World War, 1914, Christmas Truces. ORGANISERS, Southland Football have come together with The International Children’s Football Alliance to celebrate peace through play at Turnball Thomson Park. In the year of the first ever women’s Football World Cup held in New Zealand this poignant event is reminder to the international football family about the power of the game to bring peace through play..
The total number of New Zealand troops and nurses to serve overseas in 1914–18, excluding those in British and other forces, was 100,444, from a population of just over a million.
The International Peace Fields Project currently has 66 peace pitches in 5 continents. The peace pitches celebrate peace through play.
Iain Walker, Southland Football, “We at Southland Football are delighted to be associated with the CFA, and all they represent. They align closely with our values and we are excited to be the first peace pitch in New Zealand. We will display the plaque with tremendous pride“
The Children’s Football Alliance UK are the custodians of the International Children’s Football Alliance. Their mission statement: Protect Childhood Through Play.
Ernie Brennan, CEO, CFA said, “The Peace Fields Project is all about the essence of play. All children play without prejudice. When Allied and German soldiers stood up to shake hands, exchange gifts and play games on Christmas Day, 1914, the humanitarian act served to remind mankind that childhood is a time we all revert back to, for love, peace and happiness.”
Mick Gale, CFA, International Projects Director and Peace Field Project Ambassador ‘The first ever peace pitch in New Zealand commemorates all wars and celebrates peace through play’. ‘There is a tremendous sense of pride at Southland Football for their peace pitch.’ ‘ I know that the CFA are delighted that New Zealand will have a plaque displayed at the Peace Pitch, Mesen, under the shadow of the New Zealand War Memorial. ‘There’s plenty of scope for schools and clubs across New Zealand, to now connect with the Peace Pitch in Invercargill and the ICFA’s online resources.’’
Notes to editors
For more details, contact The CFA: Ernie Brennan on +00 44 (0)7813 082584 or email erniebrennan@thecfa.co.uk Alternatively, call Paul Cooper on +00 44 07875 283093 or email paulcooper@thecfa.co.uk
The Children’s Football Alliance was established in 2008 to protect childhood through play.
Colin Farley, CFA sponsor and Founder Member of The CFA, presented Mick Gale, The CFA’s International Projects Director and Peace Fields Project Ambassador, with a Peace Poppy Ball which Mick will take with him to Turnbull Thomson Park , Peace Pitch, Invercargill, New Zealand. Mick will also present Southland Football with their Peace Field Project Plaque which will officially twin their designated are of play with Flanders Peace Field, Mesen, Belgium.
Colin Farley, said, ‘This is truly a ground breaking event that brings the 66th peace pitch into a growing International community’. ‘New Zealand’s contribution to the First World War was astonishing and will never be forgotten’. Mick Gale, added, ‘The first ever peace pitch in New Zealand commemorates all wars and celebrates peace through play’. ‘There is a tremendous sense of pride at Southland Football for their peace pitch.’ ‘ I know that the CFA are delighted that New Zealand will have a plaque displayed at the Peace Pitch, Mesen, under the shadow of the New Zealand War Memorial. ‘There’s plenty of scope for schools and clubs across New Zealand, to now connect with the Peace Pitch in Invercargill and the ICFA’s online resources.’ There are now currently 66 Interantional Peace Field Projects in 5 continents.
Turnbull Thomson Park , Peace Pitch, 199 Islington Street, Invercargill, 9810, New Zealand is twinned with Flanders Peace Field, Mesen, Belgium, site of the First World War 1914 Christmas Truces.
New Zealand’s first ever peace pitch is twinned the Peace, Flanders, Mesen, Belgium, site of the First World War, 1914, Christmas truces. Next door to the Peace Pitch, Mesen, you will find the New Zealand War Memorial. The total number of New Zealand troops and nurses to serve overseas in 1914–18, excluding those in British and other forces, was 100,444, from a population of just over a million. Forty-two percent of men of military age served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, fighting in the Gallipoli campaign and on the Western Front. 16,697 New Zealanders were killed and 41,317 were wounded during the war – a 58 percent casualty rate. Approximately a further thousand men died within five years of the war’s end, as a result of injuries sustained, and 507 died while training in New Zealand between 1914 and 1918.
