A football team formed exclusively for refugees in Munich is giving many young boys the opportunity to kick-start a normal life outside of their refugee camps.
'The Wacker Refugee Club’, a game-changing initiative by FC Wacker Munchen, a German football club, currently has about 30 refugee boys between the age of 12 to 18 training with them.
“We want them to forget about all their problems at least for two hours when they are playing football, ”Marcus Steer, President of the Club told Gulf News.
And 17-year-old Ba Amza, a young refugee from Sierra Leone, vouches that it is the best time of the day when he is playing football.
“I used to play football back home. But I never imagined I could play in Germany. So I never miss training session,” said Amza who fled to Germany two months ago to escape the brutal violence and war in his country.
For Rehman from Afghanistan too, football gives him a sense of normality. “When I play football, I feel at home,” said Rehman
Steer said he came up with the idea of setting up a football team for refugees after visiting a refugee camp and saw for himself how traumatised and frustrated people are.
“It is very frustrating for them to sit inside a camp whole day and do nothing. I thought football will be a good distraction as well as a great sport for them,” he said.
The game plan worked when Lebanese Khudor Lamaa who is also an ex refugee agreed to sponsor the Jerseys, shoes and other football gear for the new team. The team members are also given free subway tickets to travel to the club and their camps. Lamaa fled Lebanon with his family in 1986 during the Lebanese war. Now he runs two successful Lebanese restaurants — Beirut Beirut and Manooche — in Munich.
“I think football is the first step for these boys to get integrated into this country. And the best thing is they get to meet many local people and make friends while playing,” said Lamaa.
How football bridges language and culture barriers is evident when you watch the âWacker Refugee Club’ playing. Boys mainly from Sudan, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria call out their mates by their nationalities and not names during their training sessions. Cries of âHey Afghani,’ âHey Iraqi’ an âHey Sudani’ fills the air as their French coach Olivie Fadil Aguila raps out instructions to the players.
As Aguila says, “there is only one language for football. That is team spirit. And the boys are bonding well.”
