What do all these things have in common?
A child chasing a dog in their yard…
A family out for a Sunday drive…
A group of children playing road hockey and all they have to worry about is oncoming traffic…
Those of us who grew up with these activities means we had a normal upbringing, safe and free to do these things.
Life without fear is precious, but sadly is foreign to an ever-growing group of children in countries under strife, like Syria and Sudan.
A group of youth from these countries and other nations — all new Canadians who now reside in the St. John’s metro area — never had the opportunities that children born and raised here were afforded.
Their families had to flee deadly conflicts, climb on ships that should never be deemed oceanworthy, walk in some cases thousands of kilometres, spend all of their savings to just be able to leave their home country and enter another, and hope there would be help for them somewhere around the globe.
Some lived in refugee camps for prolonged periods of time before getting the opportunity to immigrate to Canada.
An initiative — the brainchild of one of these young men — is coming to fruition here this weekend when the newly formed Telegram/Canadian Tire United Football Club plays its first soccer match in the St. John’s Soccer League on Saturday at King George V Park.
That young man, Mohamed Alsharif, from Homs, Syria, and his friends grew up playing soccer and since they arrived in St. John’s have continued to play the only sport they know.
But it was time to take that love of the game and the freedom they now enjoy to a new level and combine it into a venture that will help them enjoy soccer and perhaps even blaze a trail of hope for many more new Canadians and show them what they can accomplish if they have a dream.
“A lot of us were getting together on Thursdays after school to play,” Alsharif said. “I decided, as the captain, my friends (who were playing with Challenge clubs) should try and get together and do something.
“I asked my friends to play and they said yes, but we didn’t have enough for a team. You need 20. So we started asking around and we got a lot of players who wanted to be part of a team,” he added.
He said they applied to play in the St. John’s Soccer League in the Intermediate division for the 2018 and were accepted. The only thing left was to secure a sponsor and they had several meetings with businesses across St. John’s. It was decided Canadian Tire and The Telegram would co-sponsor the team and the Telegram/Canadian Tire United Football Club was born.
“It was so hard. There is a lot of work, a lot of meetings to ask for funding. We had to look for a coach.”
“We are so excited for our first game,” Alsharif said, which is on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Conception Bay North. This will be an indoor game and as the weather improves the games will move outdoors.
Just being able to field a team is a feat in itself.
“All of these youth left some tough situations to be here today,’’ said Suzanne McBride, the United team president and coach.
“Most of them were 14 to 16 years when they left to come here. They were living in refugee camps and unable to go to school. Many of them had to work to support their families, some with parents, usually fathers that had been injured and couldn’t work,” she added.
The lessons they learned while having to work hard, and the sense of family and community they have, made them who they are today.
“This left them unable to play organized sports, go to school and just get the chance to be young and do the normal things that young people do,” said McBride, who’s an English as a second language teacher at Holy Heart of Mary High School in St. John’s.
“Now they are here and are having a great chance to be part of a team and just to be young — something they weren’t able to do until now. They are really passionate about the sport of soccer.”
Telegram/Canadian Tire United roster
Coach – Suzanne McBride
Ibrahim Aless (co-captain) – midfielder
Mohamed Alsharif (co-captain) – centre midfielder
Abdulsalam Mahmoud (co-captain) – defender/fullback
Barsad Tamang – midfielder
Mohamed Hiddo – defender/centre fullback
Natnael Tewelde – right midfielder
Ahmad Shbat – striker
Mohamed Mahmoud – striker
Munir Hamid – keeper
Filimon Wodegebriel – defender/right fullback
Mehari Wodegebriel – right midfielder
Abdul Rahman Shbat – striker
Binod Tamang – midfielder
Silvestre Boadi – defender and midfielder
Majundo Richard — right defender
