ABSTRACT
The grim irony that lies behind the metaphorical notion of “war games” is nowhere more apparent than at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in the First World War. On the morning of July 1, 1916, a captain of the 8th East Surrey Regiment, W. P. Nevill, distributed four footballs among his men and offered a prize to the first of his platoons to dribble a ball behind German lines. Private L. S. Price of the 8th Royal Sussex recorded the scene:
As the gunfire died away I saw an infantryman climb onto the parapet into No Man's Land, beckoning others to follow. As he did so he kicked off a football. A good kick. The ball rose and travelled well towards the German line. That seemed to be the signal to advance. 1
