Integration Football
The country of Poland vs. the continent of Africa…
I was sure he’s said six o’clock, but as I scanned the field at 6.15 last Sunday evening I could only see the red shirts of the Polish 'Ballaton' team members as they jogged, stretched and warmed up with the ball.
Around 6.30, a mismatched but brightly coloured African team appeared gradually and took their turn warming up.
The match kicked off ten minutes later and remained without goals for a good half hour. Some of the Polish team members however, who had done double-takes at the female member of the African team soon stopped smiling in the face of her impressive footballing skills and seemed to become more defensive in their playing.
I’m not a sports-commentator so without going into too much detail suffice it to say that after a pretty slow start the African side slid goal after goal past the Polish defence. The Polish team were four goals down (including one own goal I’m afraid) before they managed to pick themselves up and score a goal for themselves. However, as the final whistle blew the score was 5-1 to the Africans.
Despite the rather unequal result, the atmosphere of the match was good. There was mainly clean playing (possibly helped by one of the African side reminding his fellow players at frequent intervals: ‘No foul! No foul!) and despite a few cynical remarks (the Polish team seems very young…are you sure there aren’t more players on the African team…?) there was plenty of good humour between the players, coaches and supporters.
As I left, I asked the coach of the African team, Simon Mol, if he was happy. ‘That’s what integration’s all about’ he said, a big grin spread across his face.
posted by Becca @ 8:31 pm
1 Comments:
Looks like fun. Shame I wouldn't have been eligible for either team though. I'll be going to the next Toronto SWAP football game. International yes, but not nearly as diverse.
When I first saw the title I thought you they'd finally found a way to make calculus fun with football.
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