Football, The Language of Peace

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So a football-related photograph may very well be a universal language.

A few years ago, when I set out to work abroad in the field of international education and development, my mother told me (what I believed was) a tall tale about a war journalist who had his life spared by Pelé. 

I had the facts checked and that was a true story. The Brazilian journalist Roberto Cabrini was good friends with Pelé himself. At some point, the footballer visited his house and took a picture with his family, which he, of course, held dearly, but did not imagine would save his life later on.

“I was covering the rising of the Taliban, in 1996, when we were intercepted by heavy armed talibans who made strong indications that they were going to execute us. I remembered about this photograph, showed it to them and the mood changed immediately. They became more friendly, the atmosphere became more tolerant, lighter.” (Translated from Portuguese)

^{Photo Credit: @roberto_cabrini_jornalista on Instagram}

Years into this career, football hasn’t saved my life but it has served as a common language for me to connect with and gain the trust of local populations. 

It was a hot topic with children and adolescents in Palestine. When I lived in Nablus, I attracted attention as a foreigner walking through the Old City. Youth were suspicious and curious, and they asked me where I was from and as soon as I said “Brasil” I was greeted with large smiles and shouts of “Neymar! Ronaldinho! Pelé!” or stories of “I rooted for Brazil in the World Cup when I was younger!”. So when I showed them a picture of my father and my brother with Neymar, you can imagine they went crazy. 

When my family went to visit me in Palestine, we announced to the boys in the football program that a few Brazilians were joining the training one afternoon. We did not expect that word would go around in the neighbourhood and that 70+ children and adolescents would show up (some with their dads) to meet my father and my brother and to play football with the Brazilians. Weeks after that day, I was walking around the city and someone shouted my brother’s name as I passed – it was one of the adolescents in the program. 

Now in Colombia, advising a community peacebuilding project that is football-based, the sport is an essential part of my work. But no matter where I go, football has been the language I use to build bridges and to build peace. 

And, once again, my mother pulled out a photograph that I will carry dearly with me, just in case I need to impress someone along the way.