September 2002 found me in a Maltese detention centre. I was one of a handful of law students giving a hand to the much maligned Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), a non-governmental organisation on the island that wished to actively address the issue of refugees.
It had been an interesting morning spent interviewing a number of detainees, hearing their heart-wrenching tales of flight from their homeland. We also unwittingly helped out the guards of the centre who thought they had seventeen detainees in the yard when in fact there were twenty!
One of the inmates interviewed was a young Ethiopian lawyer. Erudite and civilised, our chat with him made it manifestly clear how much pot luck comes into the equation of a human being’s life.
He spoke of his harrowing flight from his unstable homeland and having to brave desert and sea before ending up in Malta. With pen and paper he sketched out the continent of Africa and showed us that practically almost every border on the continent had refugee camps caused by inept and brutal militias:
‘They say that out of every ten soldiers nine are idiots.’
When you read about premier league stars, you sometimes wonder whether this is also true of modern day footballers. The latest antics of certain players sometimes makes you wonder if Silvio ‘soundbite a day’ Berlusconi was right to refer to footballers as being ‘essentially eleven men in jocks’
Indeed in a human race of extremes, one might lose hope altogether for signs of human dignity. But it remains a constant feature of the human race that, much as it can and will depress you, in an instant it can turn around and completely surprise you.
This was clearly the case with the Iraqi national team in the Asian Cup of 2007. After a competent world cup campaign in Germany 06, everyone expected Australia to put in a strong showing at the Asian Cup. It was the first time the green and gold were taking part in the tournament, after having wisely joined the Asian federation. Finally the Socceroos were part of a confederation that would provide a stern test to their national side, with passing sides like Japan, Korea and Uzbekistan (not to mention the gulf states) proving more of a handful than the Solomons or Vanuatu.
The tournament was being held in south east Asia and the weather conditions were hell. In fact in their first game the Socceroos were trailing to a goal from Oman before ‘super’ Timmy Cahill popped up at the end of the match and got the equaliser. Everyone was sure that Australia’s performance would improve in the next game against Iraq whose head coach Jorvan Vieira had only been appointed eight weeks before the tournament and whose players did not even have a country in which to train!
Sure enough the Socceroos entered the field of play with a swagger in their step, confident that they would make up for the disappointment against Oman. The pre-match talk could not of course avoid mention of the war in Iraq in which Australia was a willing member of the alliance. In fact the commentators' tone towards the Iraqi team seemed to be almost one of pity before a ball was kicked. But once the whistle was blown, all talk of lambs being led to the slaughter was thrown out the window when a slick-passing Iraqi side unsheathed their scimitar and rammed it squarely up the ass of the green and gold.
In spite of the European stars it had fielded, Australia lost fairly and squarely to the Lions of Mesopotamia who put three past a beleagured Schwarzer. Meanwhile Iraq only had one player who played in Europe, in the Cypriot league (!) (the rest of the players plying their trade in gulf leagues). The Australian press raged at the ineptitude of the Socceroos performance, slamming coach and players. But Iraq’s victory was not a flash in the pan as the lions went on the clinch the tournament with their gutsy brand of football, getting past Pim Verbeek’s South Korea on penalties and beating regional favourites Saudi Arabia in the final.
It was one of the greatest football upsets of all time, eclipsing Denmark’s triumph at Euro ’92 and probably on a par with Greece winning the Euro in 04. The players had had hardly any preparation at all and had only installed their wily Brazilian coach Jorvan Vieira a few weeks before the tournament. After his team’s incredible triumph, Vieira said he would not stay in the role (although he recently took it up again), citing problems with the administration of Iraqi football.
This only added weight to the magnitude of what had been achieved by Iraq, and sent a demoralised people in a war-torn country into raptures of delight, regardless of culture and creed. Which constituted further evidence of the unifying power of football.
The Iraqi national football team is arguably the national team with the most troubled past. Under the reign of the now departed Saddam Hussein, it was at one point run by his son Uday Hussein whose motivational lectures included threats to cut off players’ legs. Missed practices resulted in prison time and losses rewarded with flogging with electric cables and baths of raw sewage. Missing penalties and open goals led to a player’s feet being whipped with thorns. After the first Iraq war, the national team was banned from international competition and since then, the football association’s powers of organisation have been sketchy at best.
When the volcanic ash clouds caused havoc in Europe earlier this year, many European club sides complained of a lack of preparation because they had to catch a coach instead of a plane to away games. It is hilarious to think of this when one considers the problems the Iraqi national team has had to face in recent years, being unable to train during the day because of prohibitve weather conditions and being unable to play games at home for long spells. This is not to mention the personal strife they have endured with relatives undergoing turmoil in a war that although declared won a few years back seems to still be raging.
Today the team is already readying to defend its title after somehow surviving FIFA’s latest threat to ban the team from international tournament. Those members of the team who have moved back to their native Iraq enjoy such a high profile that they are as big a targest for the insurgency as prominent political figures. Despite this, the Iraqi team refuses high security which is testament to their heroic devotion to their colours, making a complete mockery of the spoilt club footballers we have to suffer in Europe and elsewhere.
Its team is of great example to all teams worldwide, of what can be achieved if the right spirit is in place, something that sounds cliche and also something that money cannot buy.
After a brilliant world cup, the Asian cup will be the next tournament to look out for before the next Euros. Australia will again consider themselves among the favourites to lift the trophy, but the quality of the other sides involved was demonstrated at the last world cup, where South Korea and Japan were narrowly eliminated in the second round to south american opposition.
Iraq will be there with their splendid football team and they will be ready to rumble. Their most testing group game will most certainly be that against Iran. When the tournament begins I will be keenly following up on the exploits of the green and gold with Holger Osi at the helm. But if Australia get knocked out, then the lions of Mesopotamia, also led by a brave German coach, will be many a neutral’s favourite.
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