2018

Whilst football at Ritsona thrived in 2016 and 2017, for a long time, it was often played in a dirty far corner of the camp. The children played around trees and over gravel and roots. Large rocks were goalposts. Children played barefoot or in worn-out rubber shoes. Yet despite the difficulty, football was always being played.

Over time, many children started to show a real passion and talent for the game. But this dedication, unfortunately, was limited by their circumstance. No talent scouts come to places like Ritsona. For these players to truly grow their skills. To truly make the most of the game, something needed to be done.

It became clear to us that there was a real demand for a more professional and structured approach to football in Ritsona. The LHR football pilot project was part-funded by the SOL Foundation, and enabled us to hire a local UEFA-qualified coach (Giorgios Antoniou). The pilot ran for 3 months in late 2018, and was a great success, with often more than 50 children attending the daily sessions. One of the stand-out participants was Giovani….she told us: “When I was in Turkey I had an accident and for seven months I was not walking. I used to stand on the balcony looking at people and wishing to walk like them and to go to school too. Eight months later, I started to walk and I was so happy because I could go to school and I also learnt Turkish.

After seven months, I came to Greece and I made some friends. They told me they were going to play football there and I asked them if I could join too. They said: “sure!”. I went to play with them and I joined a girls team. I was the best one in the team!”

In early 2018 a new cohort of arriving refugees created another team - Kobani (see team photo, below). The team trained regularly, and played matches against other local teams.