The First World War centenary represents a unique moment in history, a time to reflect on a war that engulfed the world for over four years. As we stand looking back, 100 years on, it is almost impossible to imagine what it was like to live through this first ‘war to end all wars’, and yet as the world stops to commemorate we are all seeking to understand what happened and what it means for us today.
Here Jonathan Thacker, Education Assistant at Chelsea Football Club, speaks to us about the club's plans for the centenary commemorations.
When did you decide that a tour would be the best way to teach local school children about the First World War?
Chelsea FC’s Stadium Tours Department have been looking to expand its educational content. We wanted to use some aspects of the current KS2 national curriculum, and deliver it within our stadium at Stamford Bridge. With this year being the centenary of World War One, we have a fantastic opportunity to create and offer programmes on this subject.
How did you put the tour together?
As with all of Chelsea FC’s educational tours, I wanted to offer a programme that goes further than what and how children learn in school. Clearly the unique thing about offering educational packages within our stadium is that we can link Chelsea FC (and football in general) to different subject content, in an exciting setting. Therefore, I decided that Chelsea FC’s First World War school tour had to look into links between the club itself and The Great War.
I researched the work that other football clubs were already offering, and saw that Manchester United FC’s was fairly comprehensive. I met with Laura Flint, Manchester United’s Curriculum Manager, and we discussed how their programme was created. This proved to be very helpful. I then set about researching links between Chelsea FC and the war. There is of course a wealth of information on the Christmas day football match in no man’s land, in 1914. I decided that I didn’t want to present any information on that for the time being, as that is an area that children are likely to learn in school. Therefore I started by looking into the 17th Service Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment – or The Footballer’s Battalion. I discovered that it was created just around the corner from the club in Fulham Broadway. The more I looked into this, the more I thought that this was the area that the tour should really focus upon.
Where around the club does the tour go?
The usual tour route goes through the Chelsea FC Press Room, the Home and Away changing rooms and the Dug Out area. Ideally, the content of educational tours should relate to those areas. I realised fairly quickly that I needed a helping hand in creating activities for these rooms, preferably from someone who was an expert on the First World War. Through my research I saw that The History Press is due to release a book in 2015 titled “Chelsea FC in the Great War” by Alexandra Churchill. I got in touch with The History Press, who put me in contact with Alexandra. We met at Stamford Bridge and had a look over the work I had gathered so far. I wanted to see if she could help create more of a structure for the tour delivery, in regards to finding content that related to the different rooms.
This meeting proved to be very productive. We decided that The Press Room would be an ideal location to talk about the Newspapers’ and Press’ reactions to footballers not initially signing up to the war effort. The away changing room could be used to discuss players who signed up for The Footballer’s Battalion, from teams other than Chelsea FC (ie, visiting teams to Stamford Bridge). Finally, the home changing room could be used for talking about some of the Chelsea FC players who also signed up to The Football Battalion during WW1. Alex also suggested that I could research whether any current Chelsea FC players had family members involved in The Great War.
When can we expect the tours to start?
With this structure in mind, the job of constructing content for the tour has become far easier. I am currently in the process of writing a workbook for KS2 children on these areas, along with creating educational activities for them in the stadium. I hope to have this work completed by this summer.
Jonathan is the Educational Assistant within Chelsea FC’s Tour Department. He creates learning resources for visiting schools to tours at Stamford Bridge. For any enquiries, please contact jonathan.thacker@chelseafc.com, or call 0871 984 1955.
To find out more about tours and educational activities, please visit the Chelsea FC website here.