Ian Harrison from Affirmative Finance took football to the extreme last month, following a No Man’s Land match in Germany – and he has the blisters and T-shirt to prove it…

Ian Harrison, BDM at Affirmative Finance, refereed an England V Germany Armed Forces match, which represented the ‘Christmas Truce’ game held in no-man’s land, to remember and commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the start of WW1.

Commenting on the trip, which involved two teams of Under 15’s Ian said: “We left Liverpool on the 25th May at 9.30am and drove to Ashford in Kent to play the REME Football Team and experience a true Gurkha Curry! We beat the REME 14-3.

“We left Ashford at 11.00pm, to take advantage of lighter traffic, and went through the Chunnel, [where] overnight we drove to Dortmund for a tour of the stadium.”

“We stayed at the British Army base in Paderborn, where the lads played three further games in Germany, as well as visiting the British Army dog unit (Attack, Sniffer, Search and Rescue etc) and the Royal Hussars for a play on the Challenger 2 tanks. We then travelled to Ypres, Belgium.

Ian then refereed the England v Germany match, where  England won 6-2.

Ian told Medianett: “I was a very proud Dad as my son, James, 15, played the second half.”

The team got the chance to parade with the Army to the Menin Gate and lay a memorial wreath.

Another Affirmative wreath was laid during the second day of marches.

The team also visited the Military cemeteries at Langemark (German), Tyne Cot and Passendale (British).

Finally, an early start was made on the last day of the marches so the group could complete the route, shower, change and then drive the extensive 400 miles back to Liverpool.