Truly the World’s Game
Tassilaq Soccer Stadium
This summer I had the opportunity to travel to Greenland to enjoy a 10 day backpacking trip. The last thing I expected to find during my adventure was anything related to the world’s game. Much to my surprise I was mistaken.
After a 2 hour plane ride and a 90 minute boat ride through pack ice, I arrived in the town of Tassilaq (pop. 1900). The center of town is dominated by a regulation soccer pitch. This pitch is lined on Friday and is used by the whole village from dawn to dusk on Saturday.
I then took a 2 hour boat ride and a 10 hour hike thru a valley to Kuggermit Point. We camped here for three days and previous guest left a soccer ball. You are viewing what possibly be the only shot of our Executive Director kicking a soccer ball
The next day would truly illustrate to me why we call soccer the World’s Game. After a 20 minute boat ride, I arrived in the little village of Tinnit. This coastal outpost is 20 miles south of the Polar Ice Cap and has a population of 125. After a short hike into the middle of town, I came across the school kids of Tinnit warming up for their daily soccer game. It would be foreign to most of us to play on a small dirt pitch with wooden pallets as goals with a large boulder on the right side of the field (home field advantage), but these boys and girls outfitted in UMBRO pinnies wearing uniforms of Brazil, Barcelona, and Chelsea know no other way. After inviting me to warm up, (which consisted of a 2 mile run through the hills of Tinnit), and running a little more than 150 yards, I told the trainer that I would wait by the pitch. After their warm up, the kids played a spirited game of football where skills, honed by hours of practice, were displayed. I felt honored to view this game that was played with the tenacity of most Premier League matches and now truly understand what is meant by the WORLDS GAME.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Personal Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
