The Under-12 teams from 29 clubs got to understand the importance of Remembrance Sunday in a unique way last weekend, when they went to bases belonging to each of the Armed Forces in their quest to qualify for the Premier League Christmas Truce Tournament.
At Aldershot Army Garrison, at Portsmouth Naval Base and at RAF Cosford the teams competed for four places in Ypres, Belgium, next month.
All competition was paused at 11am as they observed the Remembrance Sunday ceremonies alongside the serving members of the Armed Forces.
West Ham won the tournament staged at Aldershot, Palace emerged triumphant at Portsmouth and Man City and Blackburn Rovers came through at Cosford.
The four will compete with Belgian clubs Anderlecht and Club Brugge, Germany’s Schalke and Paris Saint-Germain, of France, in Ypres on 9-11 December, on a 3G pitch, funded by the Premier League.
The Premier League Christmas Truce Tournament has been running since 2011 and offers U12s from Premier League Academies the chance to test themselves against some of the best young players from France, Belgium and Germany, countries whose soldiers also fought on the fields of Belgium.
More importantly, it enables them to experience an educational and cultural weekend that enhances the history lessons they have been receiving on the sacrifices made by those who fought during the First World War.
They will visit the Flanders Fields Museum, while attending the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate and will take in a trip to the trenches themselves.
As well as competing against their European counterparts on the pitch, the boys will meet them off it and learn to share their backgrounds and cultures as well as the lessons of the sacrifices their forefathers made a century ago in the name of war.
