Football @ MindSay 
soccer
And unfortunately, the Eagles pretty much always lose.
And I knew, I just knew that someone was getting an offer on the house in before us. The realtor waited so long, and the price was so good.
But the house had been on the market for 52 days. What were the odds that someone would put in a bid the exact same day as us?
Pretty good, apparently. Just like I always expect the Eagles to lose, and they always prove me right, I expected to not get this house, and unfortunately, I was right.
During all that chaos -- the multiple attempts to fax, the multiple attempts to e-mail, the meetings, the redos, the everything -- someone else put in an offer on the house, and that offer was accepted.
Oh sweet rejection. It hurts when it's a book you're trying to publish, and it hurts when it's a house you're trying to buy. And it doesn't hurt any less when you expect the negative thing to occur.
But not all hope is lost. I've still got that article floating out there. Will it be written, will it be published?
Who knows? The wait continues…
Soccer training goes beyond the pitch
3 June 2008Budapest, Hungary — All the soccer players were young – between 10 and 14 years of age – but at a recent match, the opposing team was fierce in its verbal taunting of the Black Stars Juniors Football Club.
“Most of the time when children play football, they swear a lot,” explains Nabil Switzer, 15, a player in a different league who helps mentor the Black Stars. “It’s very normal.”
But in some ways the Black Stars are not “normal.” For one thing, other than playing all the harder, they didn’t respond to the goading at the recent match. Not a word. Afterwards, some of the parents of the opposing players were heard scolding their sons for mouthing such abusive words.
Gabor Farkas, the 31-year-old Black Stars coach, was pleased with his boys’ behavior but said it is what he expected of them. His goal, he says, is “nurturing good human beings, not only good soccer players.”
That he is serious about this is reflected in the dual nature of his program – football practice twice a week, a Saturday class twice a month.
The boys – there are about 20 of them – have named the class the Forro Csoki Klub (Hot Chocolate Club), and while there they do talk about football. But that’s not all.
“We evaluate how the training went,” the coach says of the class. “We look at what made it possible that we played more unitedly or what happened if we were not so attentive towards each other. We also discuss topics related to our behavior, what it means to be good, one’s responsibility towards others and society….”
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Every other Saturday, the boys meet for reading, discussion, service projects, and other activities. Here, a boy named Attila shows a picture he made for a… »
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The Black Stars, in blue, and their opponents get ready for the start of a match.
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Coach Farkas is a certified youth coach but has taken his current team in a new direction.
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Black Stars players have become good friends and here had gone out together to see a new film.
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The boys like the Saturday class, where they talk about their games but also other issues.
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Zoli is one of about 20 youngsters who belong to the Black Stars Juniors Football Club.
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Black Stars players pose with one of their favorite professional players from a local team.
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Team members, who range from 10 to 14 years of age, practice football twice a week and meet for a class twice a month.
Mr. Farkas receives financial support for the project from a Baha’i-inspired nonprofit organization in Hungary called the Unity in Diversity Foundation.
The director of the foundation, Mrs. Furugh Switzer, said the boys in the soccer program are from disadvantaged families who normally cannot afford this type of sports training. The program, she said, is provided free of charge to participants and not only offers quality instruction but also helps keep the youngsters away from things like drugs and alcohol.
Coach Farkas, who is a Baha’i, previously worked for six years as a certified youth football trainer and said he used to be concerned only about winning.
He signed up for a moral education training program run by the Baha’is that would allow him to be what they call a youth “animator.” It gave him the idea for the new football club, which he launched last September.
“In starting this club I wasn’t looking for a career again as a soccer trainer,” he said. “I wanted to help boys find respect for themselves and for the society. I also wanted to help them see that not everything is about winning.”
Mark Molnar, 10, is one of the Black Stars and says his football club is different from others. On most teams, he says, “they laugh at people when they make mistakes.”
Coach Farkas says that at the beginning, some of the parents seemed suspicious of the motives – both his and that of the Unity in Diversity Foundation. But after the parents came to some of the training sessions, they warmed up, both to the football practice and to the Hot Chocolate Club.
He proudly quoted from a letter he received from one of the mothers: “Our friends who came to the training this Saturday for the first time could hardly believe this group. … The atmosphere of the training is so good.”
Original article:
Australia is lapping up the extra games that our national football (soccer) team is getting now that we are part of the Asian Football Confederation.
In the last month we have downed African powerhouse Ghana (who at that point were the number 1 in Africa, now supplanted by Cameroon) in a friendly and reigning Asian Champions Iraq in a World Cup Qualifier.
Now that the World Rankings have been released from last month we now see that Australia has jumped up 8 ranks from 43 to 35 overtaking the former AFC #1 Japan in the process.....
God it feels great to be out of football's back country.
I came across an article in the Herald Sun football section yesterday:
"Shane proud of his blood"
Shane Edwards is proud of his indigenous heritage, but the catch is his club Richmond did not know about his lineage.
Only recently the Tigers became aware that Edwards' great-grandmother was Aboriginal.
"I've always known, I didn't know the football club didn't know," Edwards said.
"It's on my Mum's side, her grandmother was from the Northern Territory, in the Simpson Desert.
"It's a weird one. I didn't tell the club, but just thought they knew."
The fact was uncovered when Edwards' Adelaide primary school contacted the club.
The 19-year-old has played 21 games after being drafted at pick 26 in the 2006 national draft.
"All my mates back home know (about my background) and my old club, North Adelaide, knew," Edwards said.
"But (Richmond) didn't know and I played in the Dreamtime game [an annual fixture played between Essendon and Richmond that celebrates Indigenous footballers] last year.
"I don't really have the same upbringing as what (teammate) Richard (Tambling) has, nevertheless I've got some (Aboriginal heritage).
"I'm proud of my heritage and it makes this round [the AFL's 'indigenous round'] extra special."
There are 72 Aboriginal players on AFL lists and Edwards is included among them. He has a younger brother, Kym, 16, who is playing football in Adelaide.
Elsewhere, the Canberra Times yesterday referred to him in their match summary as a "zippy Aboriginal half-forward" - Shane Edwards is clearly, for all intents and purposes, now considered Aboriginal.
But what exactly does this mean? A photo of Edwards shows that he in no way looks Aboriginal, and the article certainly implies that Aboriginal culture or traditions played little role in his upbringing. His only connection with Australia's indigenous people is the fact that his great-grandmother (who he may well not have even ever met) was Aboriginal. Is this really enough for him to be labelled 'Aboriginal'?
Like Shane Edwards, I too share part of my ancestry with non-Anglo-Saxons. On my Dad's side, I am 1/8th Greek. Frankly, this is not something that has had any relevance to my life, and, like my Dad, I was not raised according to Greek cultural traditions in any way, shape or form. I have no knowledge of, or interest in, the Greek language, and if any Greek racial origin is evident in my physical features, it is minor enough to be insignificant.
So then, what importance is it exactly that my great-grandfather, who I never met, was Greek? That I share a 1/8 Greek ancestry with my 7/8 British ancestry?
When exactly is racial background or ancestry relevant to one's life?
I am going to make a somewhat audacious suggestion: never.
I am of the school of thought that race plays no part in one's personality, intelligence, or behaviour. The only people that I am aware of that openly disagree with this are white supremacists. I believe people are people - perhaps slightly different according to their genes, but mostly according to their life experience, environments, upbringing, etc.
True, there are people who believe race is important, and those people can make life hell for those who belong to other races - not so much in Australia in the 21st century, but certainly in America, in Zimbabwe, in Japan, and other such countries where race is still a major point of division. So in that regard, I can see how your race could influence who you are, by the actions and beliefs of others. But, in Edwards' case, I find it very difficult to believe anyone would have known he was Aboriginal if he hadn't told them (and the Richmond football club's 'oversight' seems to back this point up). I know I was unaware that one of my good friends at school, Ben, was 1/4 Aboriginal, until he mentioned it.
What really separates Aborigines from the white invaders, now and back in 1788, was not skin colour. It is, and was, as always, culture - and that was something that inherently belonged to Australia's Aboriginal people, their culture. That culture is not necessarily passed on to your descendants. Just as I am not Greek simply because my great grandfather was, Edwards is not Aboriginal. We are both Australian, and when it comes to races and cultures, that is the only thing that has any relation to who we are.
So, what is the point of all this? Why do I have a problem with Edwards simply noting part of his racial ancestry, and the fact that this qualifies him for a mention in a round designed for Indigenous people, and that the adjective 'Aboriginal' will now frequently precede his name?
My problem is, it perpetuates the lie that races are different. That we are not, indeed, all the same. That it matters whether your great grandmother was of a certain race. To me, it's not relevant whether this is racial discrimination, or 'positive' racism, or even a celebration of a race. It keeps race on the agenda, and ensures that society continues to view it as an important part of who we are... when it so utterly isn't.
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