Proof That Football is Still a Good Thing

Just when you thought football was all about massive corporate sponsors, billionaire owners and hyper-inflated pay-packets for players, along comes a reminder that football is still the beautiful game.

Two recent stories from New York City’s Chelsea Piers soccer complex illustrate this very nicely. Proof that everyone from the homeless to United Nations diplomats to children in Sierra Leone can benefit from a good old kickabout.

The first story is from the New York Times, about a homeless soccer team – Street Soccer NY – who compete against slick NYC business types. It’s an inspiring story about how the beautiful game can provide some direction and hope to lives that have been tough. Best of all, Street Soccer NY beat a team of bankers 10-4. In your face bankers.

The full story is here and definitely worth a read as it explains some of the detail that goes into setting up a street soccer team for the homeless. For the lazier individuals out there here’s a video instead:

The second story (spotted on The Offside Rules) is about United Nations diplomats at the very same Chelsea Piers, who split themselves into two teams to play the first annual “Diplomatch”.

One out of ten for word play but top marks to everyone involved, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. According to CNN, the match is intended to promote Play31, an organization “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.”

Plenty of photos from the Diplomatch here. And again, video below:

Embedded video from CNN Video

	Soccer Forums	Team/International Results

Category: World Football

Tags: Chelsea Piers, homeless soccer, New York, Play 31, Street Soccer, Street Soccer NY, United Nations, World Football, World Soccer

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