The Homeless World Cup
The Homeless World Cup is being held in Melbourne Dec. 1 to 7. It’s an annual, international street soccer tournament organized to give teams of homeless people the opportunity to represent their countries.
We’ll be represented by two of our Vancouver members – Guillermo Gonzalez and Robert Milton, both hailing from somewhere near East Hastings.
Gonzalez said that, after living in a shelter, he moved to a hostel where he came into contact with organizers of the Vancouver Dream Catchers soccer team, which was training for the tournament.
Once Gonzalez joined the team, organizers helped him find subsidized housing, furniture and community support. (Does this disqualify him for next year?)
The Dream Catchers competed in September at the national homeless soccer tournament in Calgary and won six out of eight games to top the tournament.
“When I went to Calgary I never dreamed we would win,” said Gonzalez, who plays goal. “Now my new dream is to win the world championship in Australia.”
During the qualifier, Street Soccer Canada selected two players each from Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary and Toronto to make up Canada’s team for the Homeless World Cup.
Most of the money raised to send Milton and Gonzalez to Australia came from Street Soccer Canada.
Wouldn’t a Homeless Hockey Tournament be a good idea?
More:
photo credit: l0ckergn0me
