This particular football story started in 1997 when I visited the CAFOD office in London with a project proposal. When I had finished the “serious” business, I was chatting casually with Gerry Naughton at the press office. I said it would be a great idea to bring a football team over to the UK from Liberia for the Millennium. To my surprise the idea was taken seriously and before I knew what was happening real plans were afoot for the trip which is set for this September.

I am sure the tour will be a great success and will be enjoyed by everyone involved. But there are murmurings on the sideline. Some people are saying that to bring a team of young people all the way from Africa, with all the expenses and time involved, is at best frivolous and at worst a waste of money and energy in a world where people die daily from a lack of the basic necessities of life. Obviously I had thought of that and much more. What started a chance remark in a CAFOD office became a matter for deep reflection for me. Let me share my thoughts. In a world which seems so divided and torn by suspicion and doubt it is becoming more and more important to find ways of bringing peace and reconciliation without the aid of experts. And believe or not football for some people can do just that. Through its high profile, it’s world-wide appeal and the demands of the game itself can make it an instrument of reconciliation.

Michael is 14 year old and like many children in Liberia he found himself mixed up with the army. When his father was killed in 1990 he and his mother were separated for three years. To survive he joined the local faction in his area and fought alongside them for years with all that army life involves. At the end of that time he returned to Monrovia to the community he had come from and found his mother still alive. Great rejoicing greeted his arrival initially but difficulties soon arose, the child had become a soldier. Michael had been initiated into all aspects of being a soldier, he smoked and drank heavily and was incapable of following any instructions or stay at home. Within weeks Michael was out roaming the streets rejected by his family and written off by his community. All efforts at counselling by the elders in the community and the local social workers and even his parish priest failed completely. Despite numerous promises and good intentions the 14-year old ex-soldier seemed unable to stop smoking, drinking. One day he was standing on the small piece of waste ground which the community used as their football field. One of his friends from before the war saw him and asked him if he still played football.

For the first time in years he was back on the field and started playing again and, as his friends were quick to remind him, he hadn’t lost his old skills. As they were walking home, the friend was getting enthusiastic about the way Michael could still play a good game of football. Fortunately for Michael his friend was more than enthusiastic he was realistic and honest. “You could play for our team, but you will have to stop smoking and drinking. You will have to become part of the community again before you can be part of the team.” Michael went home knowing he wanted to play in the team.

His conversion was neither instant nor painless but he gradually settled back into the community with his family and he does play on the team and he will be coming to the UK in September. The motivation of a place on the team was stronger than any preaching, counselling or advice from a wide range of adults.

Frank’s story is similar but illustrates a different point. He too had been a fighter in the army for a number of years. When he was 15 he came back to his community, in the same place as Michael. Frank had not been in many skirmishes or battles in the war. His problem now was not what he had done but where he had been. He had not been on the same side as Michael in the war. He had fought with a different faction and Michael knew it. As soldiers they had been enemies. He too wandered down to the field where the keen footballers were practising. As soon as he arrived someone shouted to him to join in and he did, hoping that the others wouldn’t bother about his past. By the end of that first day he realised that players on the team had come from five different warring factions. In the war some had been winners some losers, but the only thing they discussed were the tactics for their next game.

The team which initially had the impressive name “power from heaven” later became the “Millennium Stars”. The team plays regularly and is well supported in the Gbangaye Town area of Monrovia. Community support for the team is strong and there are many hopefuls waiting to join the team. The war is rarely discussed and even then only in the half-comic, half-boasting way that adolescents all over the world exaggerate their escapades. There have been no reconciliation workshops, no formal handshakes, no signing of any treaties but for this group of young people the war is definitely over.

It would be foolish to claim that the universal application of football would heal the world’s divisions. No one would claim that playing football is the perfect therapy for people exposed to violence. However in areas of the world where professional resources are scarce and often inappropriate, where whole populations have been torn apart by violence and atrocities, it is one way forward.

Fr Joe Glackin SDB