Remember it — how could I forget it — I was never offside! I could not believe that decision. — Edmund Blackadder, Episode 6, Blackadder Goes Forth

The fabled football match played in No Man's Land on Christmas Day 1914 has long been a point of conjecture and much romanticising. Stories of tight German victories and late offside decisions add spice to the legend, but in truth it's difficult to prove the existence of one definitive game. That's not to say that men from opposing sides didn't participate in casual kickabouts on the rugged plains of Flanders Fields — just not in the regimented fashion we're used to today.

Private Ernie Williams Remembers

One such account of a chaotic game played on Christmas Day 1914 came from a 19-year-old Private in the 6th Battalion Cheshire Regiment named Ernie Williams. He recounted his experience vividly in a press interview carried out in 1983:

The ball appeared from somewhere, I don't know where, but it was from their side — it wasn't from our side where the ball came. It was a proper football. They took their coats off some of them and put them down as goalposts. One fellow went in goal and then it was just a general kickabout. I should think there would be at least a couple of hundred taking part. I had a go at it — I was pretty good then at 19. Everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves. There was no sort of ill-will. — Private Ernie Williams, 6th Battalion Cheshire Regiment
There were some of the Germans could speak English. I don't think many on our side could speak German! No referee, we didn't need a referee for that kind of game. It was like playing as a kid in the streets, kicking the ball about and the referee being the policeman and chasing you off. There was no score, no tally at all — it was simply a melee. Nothing like the football you see on television. The boots we wore were a menace — those great big boots we had on — and in those days the balls were made of leather and they soon got very soggy. — Private Ernie Williams

Lieutenant Brockbank's Journal

This is backed up by an account from another member of his battalion, Lieutenant Charles Brockbank. This is an entry from his journal:

The most extraordinary incident… The Germans started shouting to us to "come out" and "have a drink" and also climbing about in the trenches. One of them came out in front without rifle or arms, as one of ours went out, too. A huge crowd formed. We had found a little rubber ball so, of course, a football match came off and we exchanged various things. — Lt. Charles Brockbank, 6th Battalion Cheshire Regiment

What It Really Was

These impromptu football games did happen — but were more about young men revelling in the taste of sweet liberation than a fiercely contested sporting contest.

And how welcome that feeling must have been.