Soccer enthusiasts from around the region paid homage to the World War I Christmas Truce on Monday by participating in the fifth annual Truce Tournament hosted by Sporting Club, the National World War I Museum and Memorial and The Soccer Lot.
Approximately 200 participants from 33 teams in the area competed in a 3v3 soccer tournament, while hundreds of additional soccer fans attended the English Premier League Boxing Day Watch Party on large screens inside the National World War I Museum and Memorial.
The Millennium Pilots claimed the Truce Tournament title in the Competitive Division. In the Recreational Division, Stepdads claimed the title. #CatsBy90 won the Beer Division.
The Truce Tournament is a tribute to the Christmas Truce of 1914 in which the battles of World War I on the Western and Eastern Fronts temporarily subsided. Members of both sides laid down their arms in a time of war to celebrate a day of peace by venturing out to “No Man’s Land” to exchange gifts, sing carols and play soccer.
“The Christmas Truce was a remarkable event during the world’s first truly global conflict,” said National World War I Museum and Memorial president and CEO Dr. Matthew Naylor. “There are substantial lessons to be learned from those soldiers who displayed an unbelievable amount of humanity in the midst of horrific warfare and the Truce Tournament allows us to recognize and understand how the Great War continues to effect the global community to this day.”
In addition to Sporting Club, the National World War I Museum and Memorial and The Soccer Lot, event sponsors included Ivy Investments, the Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund of Kansas City, Missouri, State Street, Central States Beverages, The Roasterie and Sports Radio 810 AM.