Countdown to Street Child World Cup continues for Philippine team

The Philippine team for the Street Child World Cup will continue its preparations for the final competition in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in March 2014, as former street children will once again represent the nation against a host of other countries.

The Street Child World Cup (SCWC) is held every four years, just weeks before the FIFA World Cup. Showcasing the best talents from around the world, the SCWC event raises the profile of street children and the issues faced by kids who lived, slept, and worked on the streets.

Street children are treated as less than humans in most countries, and across different cultures they are referred to as ‘vermin’, ‘the plague’, ‘insects’ and ‘the children of slaves.’ Thus, the purpose of the Street Child World Cup - to show the world how badly street children have been treated in so many countries and to assert that every child deserves to be treated as a human being.

Philippines 2010 Shield Champions in South Africa

Last time around, the Philippine team won the Shield, the secondary competition after it finished third in the group stages. Defeating Brazil along the way, the first time any Philippine team had ever beaten Brazil in football, the Philippines met hosts South Africa in the final.

After an exciting game the Philippine team narrowly won and held aloft the South African and Philippine flags together as a sign of respect for their opponents, whom they had befriended during the conferences and art programs held during the week.
 
In 2010, Craig Burrows, MBE, managed the team while the coach was Jess Landagan of Nayon ng Kabataan. Backed by corporate and individual sponsors the team was dubbed the ‘Miracle Team,’ not least for the amount of paperwork and time involved in getting birth certificates and passports for a group of street children in the Philippines.

So with the first miracle of getting the team to the Philippines, the team won the Shield and came back as national champions. The Philippines was also the only team captained by a girl, with the requirement in 2010 of having one girl on the pitch at all times. This time around, there will be separate boys and girls divisions, and more than doubled the number of countries participating in 2014 with at least sixteen countries expected in the group stages.

The Philippine girls team is only the only Asian girls team in 2014 and so they not only represent the Philippines but also the rest of Asia in the competition.

SCWC Witsenburg scouting tournament

As the coach of the Philippine team for 2014, the scouting has begun as we look to prepare for the competition in Rio. In order to find the best talents then, the SCWC committee is organizing another tournament for June 23 at the European International School.

In conjunction with Witsenburg Natural Products, teams from Payatas FC, Gawad Kalinga, Dream Big Pilipinas, Nayon ng Kabataan, Muntinlupa FC, and Josie’s Angels have already confirmed their attendance, as some of the best teams working with street children will meet to play a friendly tournament.

Witsenburg Natural Products will actually be sponsoring all the local tournaments to be held in Manila. These tournaments will be held every month and form the backbone of the selection process for a Manila team. This Manila selection will train together, before being pitted against teams from Davao, Cebu, Iloilo, and Tacloban, in order to find the best players and most deserving kids from across the Philippines to form the final eight boys and eight girls to represent the Philippines in Brazil.

The road ahead for the Philippine team

There is now less than a fortnight before the teams will meet at the European International School where Azkal veterans Chieffy Caligdong and Aly Borromeo coach the school team. There are already several players who made a marked impression in previous events and among them is Crystal, a sixteen year old girl who was born in a cemetery.

She eventually moved into Mango Tree House, the children’s home of the Asian Students Christian Foundation run by Craig Burrows, after a Molotov Cocktail was thrown over the cemetery walls and into the grave in which she was sleeping. Her story is remarkable and can be viewed in ASCF’s documentary here.

And this is the brightest part of the tournament. To take children who have been discarded by society and thrown out with the trash, sometimes literally, and show that they can represent the entire country and go on to be very successful is at the heart of the mission.

To help change the attitudes towards these children though is just the first step. The road ahead will be long and full of challenges, but together we can make a huge difference in the lives of the most vulnerable people on the planet. - AMD, GMA News


Roy Moore is a regular contributor to GMA News Online and is the Executive Director of the Fairplay for All Foundation and the Coach of the Philippine team for the Street Child World Cup.

For more information or to get involved in the project you can reach the foundation at: ffafoundation@gmail.com