The Kick Project

Pic from the game: Maxim Malinovsky/AFP/Getty Images Just in case anyone doesn't believe soccer/football takes shape off the field, take a look at this take on the current tensions around Russia and its border nations. When Ukraine and Belarus played a Euro 2016 qualifier last week, politics came to the fore. But, what is really interesting is that the game, for all the violence - both potential and real - put the blow-ups on hold. The violence here was around the game, not during it. Sure, soccer/football can set off or be used to justify thuggish behaviour. But, the game itself - those 90 minutes between white lines - is rarely disrupted (I say rarely as it does happen). The thuggish stuff would happen anyway, with or without any soccer/football, so it's unfair to blame the game for it. The game can take some credit though for putting it on pause, mostly, if only temporarily. That's a moment in which peace can take hold. Read more

No this is not them....I do have some pics but its a long story about pic files and my phone crashing....don't ask... Took delivery last week of our first batch of used balls and boots for our Gaza campaign. Thirty-five balls and assorted boots of varied sizes were tipped our way by Caloundra City  soccer club. Club Prez Craig Russell told me as we stood in an empty football field as dusk and a storm approached that this is the biggest junior club on the Sunshine Coast, with some 45 teams. The team Craig coaches just fell short of the Grand Final, but finished a credible third in the comp. So, thanks to Craig and the Caloundra City family for their generous donation. Only 965 balls to go to reach our target.... Fortunately, we have received pledges from Kevin Milstein at the Reagan Milstein Foundation , The Sunshine Coast Churches Soccer Association and from Mark Acaster (who has helped us before) at Red Lion Football Tours , so we're gradually on the way to our ...

South Sudanese refugees in Uganda line up. Pic: Dorah Ntunga/Oxfam Some peace initiatives using football have been promoting the cause of peace in East Africa. Both programs, one UN-backed, the other run through Oxfam, speak to the power of the game to generate co-operation through play and fun, always the easiest route for humans to find solutions.... The UN project in Somalia aimed to commemorate World Peace Day later this month. The key message is this, I think, from Somali Football Federation President Abdiqani Said Arab who reportedly "sent a strong message to the UN requesting the world body to pay much attention to football which has so far been used as an element of peace building and yielded positive results." Clunky translation maybe, but you get the point. Not sure however what research Mr Arab may be alluding to as there does not appear to be a lot. Anecdotal evidence is fairly plentiful though and this may be what he was noting. This program in Ug...

Pic: Ottawacitizen.com Recently, a game between North Korea and Finland became a political - yep - football. During the FIFA Women's Under-20 World Cup in Canada, fans of Korean unification turned out to support the DPRK, aka North Korea, and to show their unbiased approach to the coming together of the two Koreas,  separated after the Korean War 60 years ago. This was intended to make a non-violent statement, using the peaceful focal point of football as the vehicle. All well and good you might say. Not for FIFA. As you can read here in this eyewitness account, a FIFA official moved in and shut the support down.  The official cited FIFA regulations which require there to be no political statements in a FIFA sanctioned game. This looks to be a can of worms, allowing hypocritical applications of the rule to suit common or accepted prejudices. For instance, women are not permitted to attend many games in the Middle East (I recall a Socceroos World Cup qualifier ...

                                                                                Credit: New York Times Op-Docs

Pic: Jessica Hilltout, taken in Burkina Faso Not entirely sure I can say what The Economist is truly on about here . But, clearly, when that mag starts talking about football and big money, bringing in fancy stats and data, you know the business side of the world game is getting more and more prominent. This piece in These Football Times also picks up on the increasingly powerful commercial trends in football and details the activities of Red Bull as it levers its way into European high level football - and elsewhere. We all know its there and since at least the beginning of the EPL in 1992,  football money has gone stratospheric. My concern is this. While the money players earn and corporations can take out of the game is a problem, the bigger problem is how the money skews the game away from its roots. Where's the money in junior football? Even more pertinent, where is the money to support struggling football leagues in developing countries and to fund youth systems? It r...

Last month commemorated the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I. This war essentially began the modern era of warfare and began the shift away from simple line v line battles to more complex and changeable theatres of war. It also began the trend towards greater numbers of civilian deaths which continues today. In most wars now civilian casualties outnumber military personnel and wars are fought in largely civilian areas. So, it's pertinent to recall this story of the Christmas Truce of 1914, which included spontaneous soccer/football games between soldiers on both sides of the trenches. Maybe the UN and other bodies vested with generating peace in situations of war really should take off their suits, get out of the negotiating rooms and drop a football in the middle of the warring parties. Word is the EPL is involved in putting on some kind of event to mark the occasion, which has been planned for some time.