Soccer's Power To Stop Wars

Soccer has started wars and soccer has stopped wars.

In 1967 the two sides in the Nigerian civil war agreed to a 48-hour cease fire so they could watch Pele play an exhibition match in Lagos.  And in July 1969, several days after El Salvador beat Honduras 3-2 in overtime in the decisive third game of a World Cup qualifying series, the Salvadoran army attacked Honduras beginning the "100-Hour War," also known as "The Football War."

Perhaps the greatest display of the power of soccer over world events - if it actually occurred - was the so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 when British and German soldiers are said to have suspended hostilities on Christmas Eve and played a huge soccer game in a no-man's land between the two lines.

In accounts I have read there appears to be some dispute among historians as to whether such a game actually took place.  But, Lt. Kurt Zehmisch of Germany's 134th Saxons Infantry Regiment is said to have witnessed a match and written, "Eventually the English brought a soccer ball from their trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued. How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as our friends for a time."

My guess is there is some truth to the various accounts and that perhaps there were a few small games here and there, certainly not anything resembling an organized match.  But the legend is recognized more than 100 years later and the English Premier League has been running a Christmas Truce Tournament in Ypres, Belgium since 2011.

In the run-up to the 100th anniversary of the truce, CNN ran a good piece about it on line.

It is idealistic but still nice to think how much better the world would be if nations resolved their conflicts on a soccer pitch instead of a battlefield.

Wanderers Face Gunners on Isles of Scilly - Again and Again And Again

Today's New York Times reports on what it calls "the world's smallest soccer league," the Woolpack Wanderers and Garrison Gunners, who battle each other, and only each other, over a 20-game season on St. Mary's in the Isles of Scilly off the southwestern coast of England.  "No derby in world soccer is played quite as frequently as that between the Garrison Gunners and the Woolpack Wanderers," writes Rory Smith.

The five inhabited islands have a year round population of about 2,200, with St. Mary's the largest at about 1,650.  The league used to have four teams, two from St. Mary's and two from other islands, until the 1950s when a dwindling population forced it to shrink. 

Each summer the team captains meet at a local pub for choose sides for the coming year, a tradition that keeps the games competitive.

It turns out the league is not even officially the world's smallest.  To save costs, the two teams register as one with the English Football Association so in the eyes of English soccer the games are considered intramural matches,

"Star Of The South" Shines With Fans In Bavaria

Imagine if one of the players from the Phillies went out to, say Harrisburg, on his off day and spent a few hours tossing down beers with the fans.  Probably not happening.

But German powerhouse FC Bayern, described in its theme song as "Stern des Südens" (Star of the South) makes sure its players do just that on a regular basis, as reported in today's New York Times.  The story features forward Thomas Müller (#25), a native of Bavaria, visiting the town of Waging am See 100 miles east of Munich.  Müller, the story says he knows that these visits are "part of what it is to be a Bayern Munich player" and that playing for Bayern "is more than just going to work."

To quote the song: "Und so war es, und so ist es and so wird es immer sein."  (And so it was, and so it is and so it will always be.)

MLS Cup Final Saturday in Toronto

One team will win its first ever MLS Cup Saturday when the Seattle Sounders visit FC Toronto Saturday night.  Neither team has ever won the Cup.

There is a good preview of the match from MLS here.