‘Homeless’ team grounded

ll Square in Denmark from 24 July – 4 August.
Petros Chatiza of the Zimbabwe Homeless Squad leader and executive of the Youth Achievement in Sports for Development, said they were forced to do trials for the second time in Hatcliffe, after it was discovered that most of the players who made the grade were not passport holders.
“It’s not the best of the squads (compared to) the one which travelled to Cape Town, South Africa last year. We selected the players on the basis that they are passport holders and we discarded some of the players who gave a good performance because we got no joy from the Passport Office,” Chatiza said.
However, the selectors managed to come up with a squad of eight players, mostly victims of Operation Murambatsvina (Operation Clean-Out Trash) who are going to the Homeless World Cup for the second successive year.
Zimbabwe came 28th out of the 48 participating nations at the showcase held in Cape Town. The players who went to South Africa were not considered, “to give others a chance”.
The youths last weekend played their hearts out, hoping to get selected and be part of the team, so that they can escape the grinding poverty in the country – at least for a month – during the Homeless World Cup.
The annual Homeless World Cup literally brings soccer to the streets. Its stars are not pampered prima donnas; all have experienced homelessness in the past two years, or are part of the drug or alcohol rehabilitation schemes.
The Zimbabwe Homeless World Cup project is currently based in Hatcliffe, one of the most impoverished suburbs of Harare. The project’s core aim is to teach young people by giving them access to high quality coaching in football, assertiveness and life skills.
Operation Murambatsvina, started in June 2005, led to the unemployment of 700,000 people and affected a further 2.4 million people countrywide, the United Nations estimates.
By participating at the Homeless World Cup these youths have fresh motivation for life and have a reason for living. Donor agencies meet the travel costs of the team, while Nike provides trainers.
The Homeless World Cup is unique in that all the 48 nations do not have to go through the qualifiers to go to the finals unlike the FIFA football extravaganza.
In October last year, some 500 street-dwellers from 48 countries went to Cape Town, South Africa to play football: on the field, competition was intense; off it, ‘scallies’ from Liverpool, England found common ground with the dispossessed of Zimbabwe.
The four-a- side matches are played over 14 minutes.
Zimbabwe Homeless Squad:
Amon Sanyangore, Moses Mashamba, Raphael Banhu, Tafadzwa Vambe, Vincent Chawanda, Samuel Mandava, Farai Mweta, Samuel Mandava, Brighton Gumbe.
Coach: Petros Chatiza Manager: Tawanda Karasa.