Local footie
After much pining and searching, last night I finally found a game of pick-up soccer. Just a few blocks away from me, in Memorial Park, which is across the street from the Manitoba Legislative Building.
NOT the kind of game I'm used to. I'm talking 30 guys on the field with none of the usual markers distinguishing the teams (lights/darks, shirts/skins, smokers/yogis). Each them a wicked prestipodidator (Yeah, that's right, I made up a new word by slammin' some Latin and Greek together -- who's gonna stop me?), but a hopeless ball-hog. Hell, coulda been one big game of every-man-for-himself keep-away for all I knew. I asked. The answer: "Just watch for a while. You'll figure it out". Uh-huh.
Pure chaos. I spent the entire time keenly observing each of the 30 players, looking for anything memorable I could latch onto to remind me who was friend and who foe. The guys who caught my attention were our goalie -- an elderly guy listening to the game on his portable radio -- and a gentleman wearing dress pants, a button-down shirt, a turban, and a kirpan.
Which got me thinking... How do Sikh soccer players deal with the religious requirement to wear a kirpan? How much of an issue is it? You'd think someone would've mentioned something if, say, the Australian Representative Sikh Soccer Team had showed up on the pitch with ceremonial daggers strapped to their uniforms. A search on the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 website didn't turn up anything useful. A few stories about discrimination against Sikh athletes float around the net (such as the one about the young Sikh soccer player who was ordered to remove his headdress, or the one about the player ordered to remove his bracelet), but I feel ignorant. One of you fine reader's gotta know something about this, no?
Sadly, the field in the park is located near streets on two sides. I say sadly because tonight I witnessed what happens when soccer ball meets truck. Truck wins.
NOT the kind of game I'm used to. I'm talking 30 guys on the field with none of the usual markers distinguishing the teams (lights/darks, shirts/skins, smokers/yogis). Each them a wicked prestipodidator (Yeah, that's right, I made up a new word by slammin' some Latin and Greek together -- who's gonna stop me?), but a hopeless ball-hog. Hell, coulda been one big game of every-man-for-himself keep-away for all I knew. I asked. The answer: "Just watch for a while. You'll figure it out". Uh-huh.
Pure chaos. I spent the entire time keenly observing each of the 30 players, looking for anything memorable I could latch onto to remind me who was friend and who foe. The guys who caught my attention were our goalie -- an elderly guy listening to the game on his portable radio -- and a gentleman wearing dress pants, a button-down shirt, a turban, and a kirpan.
Which got me thinking... How do Sikh soccer players deal with the religious requirement to wear a kirpan? How much of an issue is it? You'd think someone would've mentioned something if, say, the Australian Representative Sikh Soccer Team had showed up on the pitch with ceremonial daggers strapped to their uniforms. A search on the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 website didn't turn up anything useful. A few stories about discrimination against Sikh athletes float around the net (such as the one about the young Sikh soccer player who was ordered to remove his headdress, or the one about the player ordered to remove his bracelet), but I feel ignorant. One of you fine reader's gotta know something about this, no?
Sadly, the field in the park is located near streets on two sides. I say sadly because tonight I witnessed what happens when soccer ball meets truck. Truck wins.
posted by Jeremy Boxen at 11:47 PM
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