Under-12s use the power of ‘Pals’ to bring people together in Christmas Truce Challenge

Our Under-12s have once again done the club proud with their endeavours in the annual Christmas Truce Challenge.

A recurring event inspired by the 1914 Christmas Eve Truce during the First World War, the Challenge sees Premier League Academy teams compete for a spot in a special Under-12s tournament in Belgium through an education-based project.

This year’s theme was around Pals’ Battalions, the volunteer battalions who enlisted for the British Army together as groups of local friends during the First World War in response to the fact that the UK was the only major power to have no mass army at the start of hostilities.

As part of the Challenge, our young players were tasked with thinking about who might need a friend in the community and how could they use football to bring people together.

Inspired by the story of our iconic former player Walter Tull, the squad invited their counterparts from another of Walter’s former clubs, Northampton Town, to play in a pair of friendly matches at our Training Centre on 29 October. Prior to kick-off, they arranged for a rendition of The Last Post to be played by Steve Jenkins, bandmaster and bugle instructor of the 17th Pals’ Battalion Band and Chairman of Leyton Orient’s “O’s Somme Memorial Fund”.

Steve also addressed the players in the classroom, speaking about the 17th Battalion and the wider context of the War. Dave Appanah, one of our long-serving medical staff, also delivered a fantastic session on his experience as a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps.

Following the success of that activity, the Under-12s subsequently arranged a walking football event at Hotspur Way on 1 November, inviting both men’s and women’s walking football teams in for a tournament.

The players ran the event from start to finish, including taking responsibility for setting up the pitches, being team liaison officers and acting as ball assistants, score keepers and nutrition support helpers. Before proceedings kicked off, the group presented their Truce Project – which included supplementary Pals’ Battalion recruitment posters and team portraits that the players had created – to the participants.

Spurs were winners of the men’s tournament, with Bracknell Town winning the women’s competition.

The youngsters have now submitted their project to the Premier League, in the hope of earning a chance to compete in December’s tournament in Belgium.

Well done to all involved!