LONDON

AFTER MORE THAN a century, the true story of the famous 1914 WW1 Christmas Truce football match between England and Germany has been released with previously classified British Government files, and it reveals a humiliating failure of nerve by England during a final penalty shootout.

“These documents were marked Ultra Secret and withheld for over a century, while those present were sworn to silence for the rest of their lives,” says historian A.J.P.K.T.P Gungho, who has trawled the recently released files for the Kookaburra Bugle. “It’s only now, with no one left from that war, that the truth is out. It seems that a sudden end was called to the Truce football game by senior officers concerned at the fraternization, while the score stood at two all. It was decided that the result should be decided on penalties. The first to score would be the winner. The Germans held the ball at that stage so they took the first penalty. The German player just placed the ball in the mud, stepped back a few paces and struck it straight past the English goalkeeper – who may have actually been Scottish. Then it was England’s turn. Some there claimed a burst of ridiculous jingoism from the English side put their own man off; others said the English player might have been Irish; most admit that he just plain bottled it – “nobody wanted to take it and the bloke that did, he lost his nerve in the face of a virtually open goal, man,” said a Geordie survivor – and sent the ball into the German trenches. One witness says he saw the German goalkeeper wink at the English player just before he kicked the penalty but there is no confirmation of this. Anyway, the defeat was total … and there are those who maintain that it actually inspired Germany to keep fighting. Who knows?”