<P> However, the truth of the accounts has been disputed by some historians; in 1984, Malcolm Brown and Shirley Seaton concluded that there were probably attempts to play organised matches which failed due to the state of the ground, but that the contemporary reports were either hearsay or refer to "kick - about" matches with "made - up footballs" such as a bully - beef tin . Chris Baker, former chairman of The Western Front Association and author of The Truce: The Day the War Stopped is also sceptical, but says that although there is little hard evidence, the most likely place that an organised match could have taken place was near the village of Messines: "There are two references to a game being played on the British side, but nothing from the Germans . If somebody one day found a letter from a German soldier who was in that area, then we would have something credible ." In fact, there is a German reference . Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch of Germany's 134th Saxons Infantry Regiment said that the English "brought a soccer ball from their trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued . How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was". In 2011, Mike Dash concluded that "there is plenty of evidence that football was played that Christmas Day--mostly by men of the same nationality, but in at least three or four places between troops from the opposing armies". </P> <P> A wide variety of units were reported in contemporary accounts to have taken part in games; Dash listed the 133rd Royal Saxon Regiment pitched against "Scottish troops"; the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders against unidentified Germans (with the Scots reported to have won 4--1); the Royal Field Artillery against "Prussians and Hanovers" near Ypres; and the Lancashire Fusiliers, based near Le Touquet, with the specific detail of a bully beef ration tin as the "ball". One recent writer has identified 29 separate reports of football, though does not give substantive details . Colonel J.E.B. Seely recorded in his diary for Christmas Day that he had been "Invited to football match between Saxons and English on New Year's Day", but this does not appear to have taken place . </P> <P> A separate manifestation of the Christmas truce in December 1914 occurred on the Eastern front, where the first move originated from the Austro - Hungarian commanders, at some uncertain level of the military hierarchy . The Russians responded positively and soldiers eventually met in no man's land . </P> <P> The events of the truce were not reported for a week, in an unofficial press embargo which was eventually broken by The New York Times, published in the then - neutral United States, on 31 December . The British papers quickly followed, printing numerous first - hand accounts from soldiers in the field, taken from letters home to their families, and editorials on "one of the greatest surprises of a surprising war". By 8 January pictures had made their way to the press, and both the Mirror and Sketch printed front - page photographs of British and German troops mingling and singing between the lines . The tone of the reporting was strongly positive, with the Times endorsing the "lack of malice" felt by both sides and the Mirror regretting that the "absurdity and the tragedy" would begin again . </P>

Who won the world war 1 football match