Soccer returns to war-torn Gaza with first organized tournament in over two years |
On a worn-out five-a-side pitch in a wasteland of ruined buildings and rubble, Jabalia Youth took on Al-Sadaqa in the Gaza Strip’s first organized soccer tournament in more than two years.
The match ended in a draw, as did a second fixture featuring Beit Hanoun vs Al-Shujaiya. But the spectators were hardly disappointed, cheering and shaking the chain-link fence next to the Palestine Pitch in the ruins of Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa district.
Boys climbed a broken concrete wall or peered through holes in the ruins to get a look. Someone was banging on a drum.
Youssef Jendiya, 21, one of the Jabalia Youth players from a part of Gaza largely depopulated and bulldozed by Israeli forces, described his feeling at being back on the pitch: “Confused. Happy, sad, joyful, happy.”
“People search for water in the morning: food, bread. Life is a little difficult. But there is a little left of the day, when you can come and play soccer and express some of the joy inside you,”........