Football played with during First World War battle could become most expensive ever
Leather ball dates back to the Battle of the Somme, when infantrymen kicked balls forward as they advanced
A FOOTBALL last played with during the First World War could become the most expensive ever.
The leather ball dates back to the Battle of the Somme, when infantrymen kicked balls forward as they advanced.
Now, as thousands prepare to commemorate the centenary of the horrendously bloody conflict, the ball’s French owner believes it could be time to let it go home.
“I might be ready to part with it, if they twist my arm,” said Dominique Zanardi, who first received an offer from Manchester United in 1998.
The Manchester ball has been kept behind the bar at Tommy’s for many years, and is in very good condition
Peter Jones
This was the year that the 54-year-old memorabilia collector found the ball, close to where the 18th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment attacked on July 1st 1916.
“It was in on a rubbish dump in the village of Coin, near Albert” said Mr Zanardi.
“A farmer who had housed members of the regiment had died, and his grandchildren were clearing his house.
“They were set to burn everything, including the ball, but I managed to retrieve it. A rucksack in which the ball was found was stamped 18th Manchesters.
“The ball was from Gamages, the London department store, and had probably been bought by mail order.”
Mr Zanardi, who runs Tommy’s cafe and museum at Pozières, said: “I was contacted by Manchester United about acquiring the ball, but turned them down at the time.
“Now I might well let it go. I’m not going to live forever, and I would like to think it will be revered, and kept safe for future generations. Why not in Manchester?”
Asked about how much the football might be worth, Mr Zanardi said: “How can you value something that is unique, and so historic? It’s priceless.”
The Manchesters were on the British line immediately to the right of the East Surrey Regiment, who famously went into battle while playing football.
Captain Wilfred ‘Billie’ Nevill wanted to relax his men as they went over the top, and thought the game might take their mind off the murderous machine gun fire ahead.
Nevill, who had given up his undergraduate studies at Cambridge to become an officer, bought two footballs while on leave in London, and took them back with him to France.
The 21-year-old’s unit reached its objective, but Nevill himself was killed just in front of the German barbed wire.
His immense bravery inspired a poem by ‘Touchstone’ which includes the lines: “True to the land that bore them / The Surreys played the game”.
I’m not going to live forever, and I would like to think it will be revered, and kept safe for future generations
Dominique Zanardi
Peter Jones, who runs the Single Step battlefield tours company, said: “The Manchester ball has been kept behind the bar at Tommy’s for many years, and is in very good condition.
“The Billie Nevill story is extremely moving, and very well known, but work is still needed to find out the exact history of the Manchester ball.’
It is identical to the two retrieved from the advance of the Surreys, one of which was destroyed by a fire at the Queen’s Royal Surrey Regimental Museum near Guildford last year.
The other is at the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment Museum at Dover Castle.
If it does return to England, then the Manchester ball could become one of the most expensive in history.
In 1996, the famous amber ball with which England beat West Germany to become football World Champions in 1966 returned home after 30 years absence.
It had been ‘stolen’ by the German midfielder Helmut Haller, but was returned to England’s hatrick hero Geoff Hurst by a British newspaper, who paid £70,000 to get it back.
The ball is now in the National Football Museum in Manchester.
The first day of the Somme was the deadliest in the history of the British Army, as some 57,000 troops were killed or wounded.
Thousands from the UK will take part in commemorations across the Somme battlefields next month, including members of the Royal Family.
Beyond the National Football Museum, Manchester United has its own museum in the city, and there is also a Manchester regimental museum.