Festival's Final Day Lives Up To Hopes

| Monday July 12, 2010 00:00

Playing as one were almost 300 youngsters representing 32 teams, a mixture of boys and girls from disadvantaged communities in over three dozen nations around the world. The raucous closing concert was a 'celebration of thanks' to the people of the Township of Alexandra, who came out to support them in large numbers over the course of the week-long tournament.

With the Final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup the following day across town at Soccer City, the poverty-stricken region known as 'Alex' hosted two finals of its own - of the Alexandra Cup and the Football for Hope Festival. The culmination of the event - a five-a-side competition organised by FIFA, streetfootballworld, the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee and the City of Johannesburg - also included much singing, dancing and award giving, and it was played out in front of a packed house at 3 Square Stadium, which has hosted over 19,000 mostly local residents for the 174 matches played.

But the results on the pitch were secondary for the teams, which are made up of youths selected for their commitment to tackling social issues in their communities. It was telling that the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for the FIFA Fair Play Award winners - Spirit of Soccer, who promote landmine awareness in Cambodia - which is awarded based on a vote by the attendees.

Fair play was a consistent theme, and there was a real spirit of togetherness on display, In the Football for Hope Festival final, there was a moment when the two sides - Search and Groom from Nigeria and MYSA from Kenya - had contradictory thoughts about whether a shot had crossed the goal-line. Since there were no referees at any of the matches, the team's came together in the middle of the pitch and decided between themselves how to resolve the situation. It was an excellent example of what the participants had learned over two weeks of workshops, forums and training.

'You saw the spirit there,' said Juergen Griesbeck, the Managing Director of streetfootballworld. 'It was the final, both teams wanted to win badly, maybe they had pressure from back home to do well, there were 3000 people in the stadium, and still they showed the maturity to decide together without problems. Was it in? Was it out? They decided it was not in and played on, and they get all my respect for the way they handled it.'

MYSA won the final on penalty kicks, but just as Search and Groom had beat Team Zambia in a shoot-out in the semi-final and then helped to dry the eyes of their rivals, the east Africans comforted their west African opponents after the match. Esperance of Rwanda beat Grassroot Soccer in the final of the cup, which was contested by teams knocked out earlier in the festival.Although the youth were all focused on the work they were doing off the pitch, the matches were also taken very seriously. 'The main purpose is to have fun and learn from other peoples,' said Search and Groom captain Suliat Yusuf, a 15 year old girl from Lagos, who was displaced with her grandmother after their house was destroyed to build a motorway.

The organisation she represents is dedicated to fighting corruption and poverty, and she said she would like to become a lawyer in order to help people that grew up like her. But first, she wanted the team in South Africa to draw attention. 'No one cares about us in Nigeria, but we wanted to do well so people would have to recognise us.

They believe we are homeless and helpless we wanted show them different.'(FIFA)