Monday, December 21, 2009

Freezing Fog and Fives


Since I’ve last written about it, there have been some exciting developments in Friday night football. For one, the group continues to grow. On an average evening, there are about fourteen guys who come regularly. I thought that the recent bad weather would put come of the guys off, but this hasn’t been the case.

I assumed that nobody would come two weeks ago. There was ice on the pitch and fog so thick I could only see about 10 metres ahead of me. Nearly all the regulars came and they brought friends!


In addition to refugees, there are now a number of local Scottish guys coming along. This has been a great addition to the group and I hope that the football is helping to bring down barriers between the guys (this is not just between the refugees and the white community, but between different groups of refugees as well). We’re also becoming known at Petershill by some of the other regulars; just last week a group that play next to us asked if we’d like to play with them on the full-size pitch sometime.


I’ve also made a connection with a local football club, Partick Thistle. While not Glasgow’s most popular or wealthiest club, Thistle is not tainted by the sectarianism that often surrounds Rangers and Celtic. The club was able to give us tickets for a match – we were nearly in the front row in mid-field. It was great fun and atmosphere, despite the cold (that freezing fog again)! The club has also offered some of the refugee guys to get involved in their ‘community coaching’ scheme in the New Year (this means the guys can work on a SFA coaching qualification while getting experience using their new skills at youth football groups). I think that there is a lot of potential in the relationship.

I’ve posted a few pictures of our outing at Firhill (below) and the guys playing on a very foggy Friday (above).







Posted by Paul and Emma at 10:57 pm |  

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