More Than Just a Game

In 1965 I watched a young man from my college dorm window. It was our first day at college. He was a stranger and remained so, but I have never forgotten him. He carried a ball onto the adjacent field, dropped it, flipped it into the air with his foot, bounced it off his head, caught it with his foot, juggled it with his feet. After a few minutes he was joined by another young man; before long about 20 guys were having a fine time, although I heard many languages rise off the turf. My college had an English for Foreign Students program. These were boys from around the world, but they all spoke the same game, what we call soccer.Unbeknown to me, at about that same time, in a prison in South Africa,political prisoners, in one of the world's worst prisons, began a project: To form within the prison a football club, run according to International (FICA) rules.Their story---who they were, who they became, how they fought the prison system, overcame a starvation diet, endured days spent breaking up rock, survived the brutalization of the guards, formed clubs and teams and then played the game----their story is one of human triumph and a testament to the fact that soccer, futbol if you wish, is a true international language, transcending nationality, religion and gender. More than just a game, indeed.