HWC 2011

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Parc Du Champ De Mars:

Paris 2011 Homeless World Cup.

By Uncle Monty At The Serengeti's

Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania.

French Story By Julie Lévy-Marchal.

Additional HWC Photography

 By Gary Day at Paris.

Paris Photos By Alex Albion.

***

You certainly didn't need to speak French to understand

what was going on at last week's Paris 2011 Homeless

World Cup held at Parc Du Champ De Mars  right under

the huge shadow of France's world famous Eiffel Tower.

***

Sweaty and hot was the afternoon when I arrived at the

day's matches to see among the many other homeless foot-

ballers those from Scotland easily beating The Philippines by 

a resounding score of 7 to 2. On the final day of the 7-day

 HWC, Scotland was once again proclaimed Champion of

the Games for 2011. Such was a great repeated of their

football feat back at Copenhagen in 2007 where they

were also rightfully proclaimed the World Cup Champions.

Even the Crown Prince of Denmark presented them

with their 2007 Homeless World Cup!!

***

Scotland, Refs, & The Philippines at Paris 2011 HWC.

***

I didn't see this time any players or coaches of the English or

Welsh or Northern Ireland homeless teams nor any of their

 matches nor did I set eyes upon HWC founder Mel Young,

58, who I have regularly encountered personally at five pre-

vious HWC annual and global events that I have attended.

***

Some Scotland Fans at Paris 2011 Homeless World Cup.

***

With three seperate pitches and games officiated bilingually

in French and English, the Paris 2011 Homeless World Cup

was relatively quiet and sparsely attended compared to previous

homeless world cups that I have seen, for example, at Melbourne,

Capetown and Milan. It was after all midweek and midafternoon

 in Paris and so that easily explained why I found the afternnon to

 be so quiet and sparse at Parc du Champ de Mars. Despite

that, an estimated 50,000 crowd of Paris spectators was due.

Although such a crowd or not, nothing would seem to diminish

the hypo and shrill supporters of the Russian and Danish home-

less teams as they squared-off to a boisterous and excellent

game. Whenever the homeless Russians scored their fans

 would immediately stamp their feet all together on the stadium

gangways.  While, the women teams also showed their deter-

mined sports skills to play good soccer at its amateur best

no matter if they were homeless or not.

***

French Magazine Photographer Shoots Homeless

World Cup Players For An Upcoming Photospread.

***

From what I saw of the players at Paris 2011 HWC,

they seemed to be a much older homeless group this

time than what I'd seen before at other Cups. Also, at

Champ de Mars, there were few if any police present.

Such contrasted sharply to Milan at where the Italian

cops seemed to be circling the homeless event with top

military brass - with the ranks of generals - present every

day during the Milan games. It was like they feared the

world homeless players would riot or something!! Dust

blown by the gust of winds at Paris was evident at

 times during the matches but not enough to stop those

 playing on the pitches.  The allocation of space for the

Paris 2011 event was much crammed and much smaller

 than I'd seen at other HWC events. Footballers and foot-

ball always need plenty of space and legroom to best

compete against organized teams and good players.

***

Not Exactly HWC's Yankee Doodle Dandy.

***

Now read below the following news report

in French by AFP's Julie Lévy-Marchal

on the Paris 2011 HWC.

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Sans-abri, ils jouent la coupe du monde de

 football pour retrouver confiance.

...

PARIS - Ils sont Argentins, Finlandais, Palestiniens, Kenyans

ou encore Namibiens et ont tous un point commun: sans-abri, ils

jouent la coupe du monde de football à Paris près de la Tour

Eiffel pour tacler leur précarité et retrouver confiance en eux.

...

Agé de 27 ans, Boris Mirakian est de ceux qui participent à la

 compétition pour décrocher un emploi. En raison d'un "problème

de titre de séjour", il dit ne pas en trouver. "Je suis né en

Géorgie mais cela fait seize ans que je suis en France.

Aujourd'hui, je suis dans l'impasse et obligé de vivre chez mes

 parents", explique ce brun à la barbe naissante qui vit à Caen.

...

L'un de ses coéquipiers, Jonathan Decombard, 22 ans, a

le même objectif. Envoyé à la rue à 16 ans à la suite d'une

rupture familiale, il dit avoir vécu "de squat en squat" pendant

 quatre ans avant de trouver un logement.

..

Pour la plupart des quelque 500 sans-abri évoluant dans les

deux tournois féminin et masculin, le but est avant tout de se

reconstruire une estime de soi, à l'instar de Hilda Dvergsnes,

Norvégienne de 31 ans, qui dit avoir perdu son logement

 "en raison de problème de drogue".

...

Pour Salim Musa, attaquant de l'équipe d'Angleterre, hébergé

à l'hôtel depuis plus d'un an, c'est un moyen de se resociabiliser.

"J'ai l'habitude de rester cloîtré à l'hôtel. Ici au moins, je ren-

contre des gens de culture différente, c'est très enrichissant",

explique ce jeune homme de 23 ans, originaire de Birmingham.

...

D'autres comme Will Mitchell, Canadien de 26 ans au chômage,

 préfère profiter de l'instant présent. "Je suis confiant. Je

vais d'abord jouer le tournoi. Après on verra", explique ce

joueur polyvalent, plutôt trapu, à la barbichette rousse.

...

Pour participer à la compétition sportive annuelle, initiée en 2003

à Graz (Autriche), les joueurs doivent avoir au moins seize ans,

 n'avoir pris part à aucun tournoi précédent de la Homeless World

Cup, être demandeur d'asile, être ou avoir été dans l'année sans

domicile fixe selon la définition propre à chaque pays.

...

"On est face à une population très variée. Jouer à deux pas

 de la Tour Eiffel, c'est un formidable moyen d'attirer du monde et

de montrer aux gens une image différente des sans-abri", souligne

Benoît Danneau, directeur du comité locale d'organisation (Clo).

...

"Le football remobilise les sans-abri dans leur corps, dans leur

tête. Cela leur permet de créer des liens d'amitié, de vivre en-

semble. Ils apprennent à se booster mutuellement", ajoute

celui qui est aussi animateur au Secours catholique.

...

"Avant d'envisager de retrouver un emploi, la vraie pré-

occupation est avant tout pour certains de renouer le dialogue

 avec leurs parents, de réduire leur consommation d'alcool, de

se désintoxiquer ou de trouver un logement", poursuit-il.

..

La neuvième Coupe du monde de football des sans-abri se 

déroule jusqu'au dimanche 28 août sur trois mini-terrains situés

 au Champ-de-Mars. Les organisateurs, qui ont laissé l'entrée

gratuite, espèrent attirer de 40 à 50.000 spectateurs tout au

 long de la compétition dont la finale est programmée le 28 août.

...

Parallèlement, un colloque international sur le thème "La rue:

y tomber, y vivre, s'en sortir et ne pas y retomber" est organisé

jusqu'au 24 août au collège des Bernardins.

...

Le titre de champion du monde est détenu par le Brésil qui s'était

imposé à Rio en 2010 dans les deux tournois, féminin et masculin.

 Julie Lévy-Marchal, AFP News Agency.

***

Joyce Crean, HWC Paris Media Rep. She's From

Dublin, But Now Lives & Works In Paris.

Joyce Was A Ball of Fun!! And so friendly, too ...

***

One of the main entrances to HWC.

***

Feedback & Comments

allaboutthebigissue@gmx.co.uk

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Next By Uncle Monty:

Homeless Everywhere Inside Paris.

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Followed By Uncle Monty's Scathing Story:

"20 ROTTEN YEARS OF THE BIG ISSUE"

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A Web Note Or Two.  By Uncle Monty.

I was unable to upload or post my HWC report from 

The Ngorongoro Crater. So I waited until today to do so

from Tanzania's largest city of Dar Es Salaam. But even

then, it took several hours to finally view directly online

 what was thankfully uploaded. My story on the Paris

2011 WHC is rather brief but enough to let you all know

at allaboutthebigissue of my encounter there to share with

you all. I'm now almost done with my holidayz as I head

 back to Paris with Contessa Maria. She'll then go on back 

to USofA and I'll return to homebase. As for The Serengeti,

no previous African safari that I have been on comes

close to this one - period! I'm still reeling with absolute

 delight and amazement from my one and only visit to

The Serengeti. I have already sold the complete rights to

my 285 Serengeti images that will help to suppliment my

otherwise meagre pension pot. It would only take such a

wonderful and a truly generous person like Maria to take

 me on yet another adventure of a lifetime. If being home-

less started out as a terrible curse for me, then when I met

Contessa it turned out to be one of the best and brightest

 blessings of my whole sinful Anglican life. And when I see

 the tripe and the hate of the most vile American Joseph 

Colin James III, 61, or Troll CJ3, and his mean bastards

 John and Peter Bird of The Big Issue, it only shows and

proves me what goodness can do over their evil against

 me thanks to Maria's golden kindness for over six years

 now ... How the Good Lord works in such mysterious

 ways to heal my deep scars and bitter wounds when 

you truly believe in Him like I very much do even when 

so many all around me care not a hoot for Him. How

sad and how pathetic???  Laugh if you will!!  Only stu-

pid people do ... And, those tight-fisted bastards called

The Bird Brothers and that Colorado Cunt called CJ3

of Loveland, USA. Their twisted and godless lives have

 survived and functioned at the expense and disposal of

others that they have vindictively victimized over many

years. They are, after all, no good and rotten to the core

despite their so-called "success" in their nasty lives. The

threesome are good for each other, but for nobody else.

They fit together, perfectly ... I shall rejoice when I

see the back of them.

***

And before I forget, the next HWC is set for 2012

at Mexico City or Ciudad Mexico.  Hope then

to see you there ... Amigos.

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Greetings from Tanzania, Uncle Monty.

Sept. 2nd, 2011.

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Pity It Wasn't An Ad For Paris 2011 Homeless World

 Cup ... Such Was Instead A Superb Ad for Paris Handball.

 Pity, too, that I only saw one poster at the Paris Metro telling

the public at where the Paris 2011 HWC was being held!!

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Paris In The Fall.

By Uncle Monty.

http://thebiggerissueorg.blogspot.com/2011/09/paris.html

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