Home Game by Mel Young

Author:Mel Young
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912147199
Publisher: Luath Press Ltd
Published: 2017-11-06T05:00:00+00:00

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All of us involved in the Homeless World Cup believe in the power of football. Arkady jokes with me that he prefers hockey, but he also recognises how street soccer has a huge impact on people, especially at international tournaments like the Homeless World Cup.

After Cape Town, Arkady thought the result would mean people in Russia would pay more attention to homelessness issues. But what happened after? ‘We believed that winning would make a difference but the media continued attacking the homeless as soon as they forgot about our victory, because they were such easy targets. They made fun of us. They called us drunken clowns – a waste of money. So, since then, we have changed our approach.’

Arkady contrasts this with Street Soccer USA and its more positive relationship with the national media there. ‘The USA also has a homelessness problem, but people there want to do something about it, and charities also contribute a lot. The media do not attack the homeless, like in Russia.’

In 2010, Arkady saw for himself the big difference between the two countries, when Russia won the USA Cup in Washington DC. At the time, Arkady joked about the team’s collective age: ‘We’re 220 years old as a team and 44 years sober,’ he was quoted by a local reporter, surrounded by his players, doing high-fives and hugging each other, as he described his own experience of living on the streets – and his struggle with booze. The media were always very positive during the tournament, but this only highlighted how negative the press could be in Russia. After Cape Town, Arkady decided to focus on soccer and building up a Homeless Football League, involving 20 teams. ‘I don’t know how we managed it,’ says Arkady. ‘We had no money, but we set up the League and we still send a team to the Homeless World Cup every year.’

In recent years, the organisation in Russia has got some help from businessmen in Novosibirsk who have funded a programme for addicts. They also got their first taste of the Homeless World Cup when they visited Melbourne to see the event for themselves. Another businessman from Vladivostok also means Arkady ‘is not alone any more’ in his struggle to reach out to Russia’s excluded. ‘There is a crisis in Russia,’ he tells me. ‘We have had some very bad times but we’re still alive, still showing we can be human beings in Hell.’

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