One of the facets of war most often ignored by history is
not the way in which everyday life was affected, but rather the way it strove
to continue in adverse conditions. Sport, in particular, always finds a way to
push on and infiltrate even the strangest of places.
Everyone has heard the story of 1914’s Christmas football
matches, but there were plenty more examples of sports playing a role in the
war, both at home and on the frontlines. With the centenary of the war fast approaching,
we’re looking at two Twitter accounts dedicated to remembering fallen sportsmen
and those strange moments where normal life seeped in between the bullets and
the bombs.
@FootballWW1 is a new Twitter account, with a website to
match, that is running as part of the Imperial War Museum’s wider centenary
commemorations. It already looks like an invaluable insight into the nation’s
favourite sport. One of their bigger projects has been to collate various
league tables for every year of the war – a fascinating way to both demonstrate
how football was enjoyed in wartime, and also to remind us that once upon a
time Oldham Athletic were capable of (almost) topping the league.
Amongst stories of professional footballers who lost their
lives during the war, the IWM are also sharing film footage of matches, team
photos from the period and information on the FA’s plans for the 100th
anniversary.
Elsewhere, @WWI_sport might be Canadian-run, but is
refreshingly international in scope. Better still, it runs the gamut of sports.
Everything from ice hockey to gymnastics, by way of baseball and, yes, football
is covered. If you’ve ever wondered what the British Army Gymnastics Staff’s
motto was then, well, we’ll be surprised. Still, @WW1_sport will tell you!
There’s further insight into how the war boosted women in
sport, or Lord Kitchener’s beliefs that cricket were a medicine to be taken
twice a week by troops in the summer. Nuggets like these should be treasured!
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