BBC Alba Documentaries

Games On The Battlefield (2022x1)

Air date: Jul 21, 2022

During the First World War, a few miles from the front, soldiers played football, ran races or boxed. For most of them, this was a first encounter with organised sport. It helped troops to forget the horrors and death around them, and gave fresh hope. Surprisingly, the Great War played a key role in the history of sport. Soldiers from rural populations all now practised sport – an activity until then reserved for the elite.