Can football really give peace a chance?
By Marcus George BBC News Online In the week that the beautiful game brought ugly scenes onto the hallowed turf at Old Trafford, it’s not exactly the most auspicious occasion to talk about the peace-enhancing properties of football. For the game which has nurtured a tradition of fighting off the pitch, as well as on, football’s newly created role comes as even more of a surprise. Earlier this month English fans were warned they could die should they ignore a restriction on them travelling to Turkey to watch England’s European Cup qualifier. But United Nations, move aside. Nancy are Sven have stepped onto the stage of conflict resolution and the chief weapon in their locker room is the game of football itself. The soccer celebrities have this week launched Truce International – an attempt to end conflict around the world, through the beautiful game. The power of football The idea is that for one day every year, soldiers and militants down their weapons of war to show their might and ver
