Integration on and off the pitch

MILAN – One of the most rewarding things about Inter Campus is that the project is constantly achieving unexpected results away from the field of play.

The latest example of this was provided on our recent visit to Israel and Palestine, where the project is this year being co-financed by the UEFA Foundation for Children. Our visit began with our own Alberto and Silvio organising a theory-based course for local instructors in East Jerusalem (Beit Safafa). Populating the desks were men and women, Jews and Arabs.

Next was a trip to the south of Tel Aviv for practical training with a group made up of Jewish and immigrant children, the majority of which had come from Africa. Finally, we travelled to a village on the West Bank, to coach Palestinian children.

Everywhere we went, we were met with the usual levels of enthusiastic participation, which helped us to overcome the inevitable difficulties connected with running the project in such a diverse collection of places, and with the spectre of conflict always in the background.

It was for this reason that the day of the final tournament in East Jerusalem was tinged with an air of apprehension. Children and coaches were coming from all of the sites – would they be able to integrate on the pitch? Would the Palestinian children get through the checkpoints so they could come and take part? Our nagging stomachs were not helped by the legendary Buma, who always does an invaluable job of helping us navigate the bureaucratic pitfalls of the checkpoints, but who this time decided to treat the kids to a visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a holy Islamic site which our children from the West Bank had never before had the chance to admire.

When the Palestinians did arrive, the tournament was a thumping success. The children showed good progress on the field, with everyone getting stuck in. We were quick to ensure that the tournament finished before sunset, so that the Jewish children could observe Shabbat and the Palestinians could go and visit the Dome of the Rock.

We later discover from our local contact Yasha, from the Ghetton Association, that the Palestinian children have been able to cross the border three times in their entire lives – all of them for Inter Campus visits.

It’s incredible to think that a sports project can give these kids the chance to do things that they otherwise could not: to see the sea, to visit their holy sites and to meet – and play with – children from the other side of the divide.