United through football
This week, we have a guest blog from ‘Salsa’, Agustin Salaberry, a member of a local Argentinian football club, who joined us as a football coach at our annual football tournament with Refugee Youth and Eton College last week.
Salsa (in white), with some Red Team players
Last Sunday, I joined a wonderful event for young refugee football lovers. I wanted to share my experiences of the awesome day!
It was my first event working with young refugees and so I arrived on Sunday morning with equal amounts of enthusiasm and nerves. How would I be able to organise more than 20 young men eager to play football? Would I have communication problems? (I'm still working on my English) Would I be able to coach a team and make sure the players enjoy the matches?
We started by playing some games to get to know each other. In a big circle, we went round saying our names and making a funny action for everyone to copy. As everyone started chanting their names, the air started to get lighter and more relaxed. This was a group of young people that barely knew each other, with very unique life stories, aligned on the same page and in the same moment. Nothing happening outside the circle could bother us. As we got on the bus, it felt that these guys were ready to win the World Cup!
The moment we arrived at Eton College, we realised we were in a special place, set in beautiful surroundings. We were greeted with great kindness by William, one of the students, who pointed us to the locker rooms. 21 shy boys entered and 21 completely new ones came out of it. Excited and joyful, they were ready with their boots on, eager to get to the pitch!
My team was the Reds. What a team! We played a great first match with a lot of possession and passes. The crowd got really into the game (yes, we even had a crowd!) The students from Eton College were merging perfectly with the rest of the players. We were off to a great start, leading 1-0 but unfortunately the matched ended in a 1 - 2 defeat. However, victory came in our second match. We secured a last minute goal. 1-0 to the reds! After celebrating our win with lots of hugging and cheering, we were awarded with our 3rd place medals.
Talking important tactics!
We all enjoyed a delicious post-match tea, prepared by Eton College, which made us forget about our slight disappointment of coming 3rd place. As we finished our sandwiches and prepared for the trip back we reassured each other that next year we’d come back to get the champions’ trophy.
The bus was filled with music as we travelled back to London. As we went our separate ways, I discovered that some of the guys were my neighbours. I ended up going home with many of the players, saying goodbye to each other one by one until there were just two of us.
Before saying goodbye, my teammate turned to me. In a voice much stronger than I’d heard before he said, ‘My name is Ali.’
‘Ali, I’m Salsa.’
We said goodbye, pumping fists with nothing better to say than just our names.
Thank you to everyone who came on the trip and connected through sport.
Thank you also to everyone at Eton College for opening the doors of your home and for making sure we were comfortable and having a good time. Thanks to every student who played, especially for those in Team Red.
Finally, thank you to Breadwinners and Refugee Youth for dedicating the time to listen to the stories of each young person and for doing something for them even when the work often goes unheard.