by GILES ELLIOTT, FOXSports.com

Updated: September 13, 2001, 3:31 PM EST

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Sports do, however, have the ability to unite people and cultures. On the first Christmas Day of World War One, German and English soldiers left their trenches to express their common bond in a game of soccer. In Afghanistan, the craze for cricket, among simple folk like you and me, surpasses any political or religious fervors. Bat on ball, no exterior perspective. In Israel, the national soccer team consists of Jews and Arabs, playing side by side for a common goal, striving for World Cup qualification, putting differences aside. No one nation comprises one race, belief, or attitude.

This is not to dismiss differences, the spark that makes human and sporting relationships and grudges shine. We all love to be different, to stand out from the crowd. But the best human instincts are those that unite us into communities based on what we share in common.

Opinions have differed this week as to when to resume sporting activity, when it can be called correct for crowds to return to stadiums, to watch teams at play. UEFA cancelled games on Wednesday and Thursday out of respect to the casualties in New York, DC and elsewhere. That was correct. FIFA will continue its matches in Asia this weekend, calling football "a beacon of hope". That can be called correct too.

League play also will resume this weekend in Europe, with players wearing black armbands, flags flying at half-mast, and a minute's silence before each game.

In Germany, at least, there will also be no music at the stadiums; Bundesliga chief Werner Hackmann explained that: "resuming match action is a symbol that those attacks cannot shatter the social and cultural foundations of our world".

English Premier League officials believe that this weekend's games "will provide supporters with an opportunity to pay their respects to the victims and their families of this appalling tragedy." Silence will be observed, opponents will shake hands and return home in solidarity. To echo the words of President Bush, "we're open for business."

The featured matches in the EPL on Saturday include a chance to get United, with Newcastle United hosting Manchester United, a match the team in red has had problems in winning over the last couple of years. Table-toppers Bolton should have few difficulties against a Southampton side unique in having failed to score a goal in the league yet this season.

Sunday opens up with Charlton against Leeds, for whom Lee Bowyer and Danny Mills return to take on their former teammates. Ipswich also tackles Blackburn, whose American goalkeeper Brad Freidel is assured of the warmest of receptions.

Extra games continue into next week, with Monday's encounter between struggling Leicester and Middlesbrough, then Sunderland against Tottenham on Wednesday. English cities have experienced terrorist attacks, albeit on the smallest of comparative scales, before. Life does go on.

The biggest game of the weekend, on Saturday, is likely the greatest example of how the EPL will pay its respects. The Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool is usually the most passionate of affairs, dividing families between those wearing blue and those who wear red.

The 165th edition, in the only English city to have hosted top division play every year since the league began in 1893, will be altogether different. Liverpool is a city particularly conscious of tragedy, its implications and aftermath. Its two clubs' fans will come together and do it proud. As a famous son of Merseyside and New York once sang -- give peace a chance.

Giles Elliott can be reached at gelliott@foxsportsworld.com