Brentford U12s complete Christmas Truce Project | OneFootball

Brentford Under-12s have completed the club’s inaugural Christmas Truce Project to commemorate the truce during the First World War, where enemy soldiers put down their weapons to play football.

The young Bees have been learning about WWI and following a workshop led by Big Ideas on behalf of the Premier League, have completed a project in line with this year’s theme - Power in Pals.

Clubs around England have completed the workshop and project, which runs in line with a series of matches to decide which teams qualify for the Truce Tournament in Ypres, Belgium.

Five clubs will make the cut for the tournament through qualifiers, which Brentford was unable to do at the weekend, with another three clubs awarded spots in the tournament for their project work, a path the young Bees will now be aiming for.

As part of the project, the U12s had a team photo taken as well as a video made which outlined their experiences, a recruitment poster and they volunteered at The Open Kitchen, a community kitchen for those affected by food poverty in west London.

“The boys gained a better understanding into people that are potentially going through hardships, maybe more hardships than we’re going through at this moment in time,” said Academy head of education Ryan Peters.

“They tried to give back by having some valued conversations with others and understanding what care packages might look like for those individuals that are going through hardships.”

The team made their way to Kew War Memorial in Kew Gardens, laying a wreath and recreating photos of the football matches that took place in 1914.

The club has had shirts made featuring the names of WWI soldiers who also played for Brentford, which will be worn every year in remembrance. A tree has been planted at Jersey Road as a memorial.

Peters expressed his happiness with how the boys applied themselves across the project.

“It gives them a sense of empathy to understand that they sit in a privileged position that they put themselves in, but actually this position was at some stage due to the sacrifices of others,” said Peters.

“All of the boys were incredibly polite and fully understood what the day entailed and I think they can be used as the pinnacle for other boys going forward as to what we expect and ensure that this legacy piece carries on.”

This year’s U12s are part of the cohort of U9-U16s who were welcomed to the club this summer, Brentford Academy running at full strength for the first time since 2016.

Led by Academy director Stephen Torpey, all age groups have made a strong start to their journey in west London.