The third half

Today we played a soccer competition with muslims, latino's, women, and gays, to give a positive signal on the international day against racism. Even though we lost (surprisingly! - and, do I need to explain of which team I was part) it was a beaufitul event. I hope it set an example for many other events to come. We said that we would train for the next competition, so that next time we can also prove gay people are not necessarily bad soccer players.

Of course this event draw a lot of media attention, most of them being positively interested. Only a Russian journalist tried to convince me that there were also quite some homophobic situations in the Netherlands lately, and that the situation for us is going backwards. Also he wanted me to say that playing 'against' each other is apparently another signal of radicalisation. Instead I told him that such positive signals should also be picked up in Rusland, and that the Major of Moscow could learn a lot from such examples. Somehow I believe that this interview will not be broadcasted... For the rest I haven't seen how the media covered the event yet, but today for all participants it was a beautiful day!

The third half ended very nice with music and drinks. According to another journalist the fourth half of the game should be a joined shower, and of course I had to agree that this could also improve integration.
On my way home I realised that my football qualities are still quite limited, and that quite some training is need for next year.