Setting Aside the Great Game to Play the Beautiful Game

The “beautiful game” is what Pele calls soccer (yes, I know, “football” to the rest of the world besides the US).  On April 25th, diplomats from the UN, including the Secretary-General, set aside the great game of diplomacy to play a game of soccer at New York’s Chelsea Piers to support the non-governmental organization Play31. Play31’s website explains that:

Play31 was founded on the basis of Article 31 of The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which stipulates that every child has the right to play. We provide children in different parts of the world with a most basic necessity for play: a football. We believe that the game of football has unifying power, and our goal is to work with local organizations who can use the “beautiful game” as a pathway toward creating peaceful societies.

A CNN report gives some more background:

Jakob Lund, the 26-year-old founder and president of Play31, was inspired to launch his program after spending time in Sierra Leone, a nation ravaged by 11 years of civil strife.

“We use soccer as a facilitator for people meeting each other and for people simply just interacting … and I think that is something true for football is that it can transcend borders, languages, races, everything that we see can normally divide people — on the football field, it can unite them, and that’s what is so special.”

Players in the “Diplomatch” included the Ambassadors from Chile, Lichtenstein, Bosnia, Timor Leste, Paraguay and the United Kingdom, as well as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and was kicked-off by UN’s Special Representative on the Children in Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy. Pictures from the game are available here.

Play31’s site explained:

With the match comprised of diplomats, the game took on a very technical character. Both teams opted for the offensive and creative style of FC Barcelona over the traditional style of international peacekeepers. Consequently, no referee was required. Instead, a council of 192 countries was used to officiate.* …

*Only kidding– Thanks to Matthias Stausberg for being our referee

One team was captained by Chile, the other by Liechtenstein. The Secretary-General played one half for each team, just like Pele in his final game, who played one half with the NY Cosmos and one half with the Brazil All-Stars. But I digress.

Play31’s site summarizes the event nicely:

The game ended in a 6-4 victory for Team Liechtenstein. But more importantly it ended with participants speaking to the media about the important work of Play31. It was a moment of pride to see such respected individuals remarking on how football can be used as a powerful tool in working toward reconciliation in post war societies. Play31 is proud to be a part of this work. And remember– we rely on your donations to keep our work alive.

Some say that soccer explains the world. Maybe. But I do hope it can change the lives of some kids. That, as far as I’m concerned, would be more than enough.