What an enlightened and worldly aware lot we have on here, all sharing a common love of Watford FC and able to hold strong and differing opinions on subjects such as independence, Israel, the EU, Ukraine, politics in general etc. In this dangerous world where we seem to have been on the brink of world wars and civil wars for my entire lifetime what a great release is the game of football. Is football the answer to IS? In WW1 they stopped fighting to play, we've had a friendly adversary on the footie pitch for as long as I can remember even welcoming Ardilles and the other guy to spurs just after the falklands, it really seems that football can be used as a great healer. Should/could our governments be using it or at least studying how to use the positive tribalism from football to seal better world relationships?
I agree in principle Aberdeen but just not at the moment - Germany would be ruling the world within 6 weeks
Well of course the WW1 Xmas football matches in the trenches would likely stop a war... An interesting turn is that they tried to do it again and were stopped by officers and I believe on officer who supported the games was shot...
Ardiles and Villa became Spurs players in I think 1978 - they went early to Argentina for the World Cup in 1982 and could not return to Spurs due to the Falklands War - Ardiles went I think on loan to Paris St Germain before returning to Spurs when things had cooled a little a year later.
There was a commonly held practice amongst the front line troops of 'live and let live.' The principal was simply, let's not do anything to upset the folk opposite, they're just like us, stuck in this sh*t hole too. This wasn't universally practiced, some units were belligerent and believed in stirring things up, and of course High Command were having none of it. They ordered that all units on the British held front should exercise an offensive spirit. This entailed the use of harassing fire and of raids, of varying sizes. Raiding was loathed, by and large. It was a terrifying waste of life. The football games of the first Christmas were never repeated. As I recall, Robert Graves' memoir 'Goodbye to All That', and Henry Williamson's novel 'A Fox Under My Cloak' both depict the Christmas Truce well, as they should: both men were there.
I think that the next time we play Germany we should have a ruling like for Aston Villa's first ever match. Play Rugby until half time and then change.
Oliver Philips has a text in the Watford Observer about breaking his addiction to the Hornets. I hope he will not need to attack something without his football fix.
