Organisers of an anti-racist football tournament are struggling to bring young Palestinians to Belfast to take part in their event.
Previous tournament opening
The organisers had hoped to bring a young team from Palestine over to take part for the first time but have found the process frustrating. Chairman of the Anti-Racism World Cup (ARWC), Sean Brady said that they have “tried and exhausted every avenue open to us”.
“We’ve been trying to organise it for six or seven months. We’ve raised enough money to do it, the only problem is the political situation,” he said.
Mr Brady said they have applied for both British and Irish visas to try and get the players to Belfast, but are still waiting for the go-ahead from the Jordan embassy and are worried they won’t get permission in time.
The ARWC tournament will take place at Donegal Celtic FC in West Belfast from 16 to 18 July. Players from across the world will team up against local people and ethnic minorities in the community to promote anti-racism in Belfast.
The ARWC was set up in response to increasing racist attacks across the city, local activists hoped the event would challenge racial prejudice and promote cultural awareness.
Figures recorded by the PSNI have shown that racist incidents are on the increase in Northern Ireland, 990 incidents in 2008/2009 increased to 1,038 in 2009/2010.
Seven Palestinians are hoped to take part in total, all of whom are well educated, active in their community and involved in human rights. 21-year-old Christina Nijim, from Jerusalem is one of the seven trying to get a visa.
“We are portrayed as terrorists and attackers instead of victims and hard working people,” she said.
“We need to raise awareness regarding the athletic abilities that Palestine has in order to show people around the world that we are human beings with skills and dreams but we only need someone to reach out to see the truth.”
Unison sponsors some of the teams in the tournament and have contacted former union president, now Labour MP Dave Anderson to urge the Foreign Office to support the Palestinians’ application.
Mr Brady has said the football tournament attracts players from all over the world and they have tried every year to bring over players from Palestine.
“We will definitely have some Palestinians this year as three players who are not living in Palestine are not having the same difficulty in travelling,” he said.
“It’s fits in with the ethos of the tournament to have them here and we would be proud to have them here.”
Last year the tournament involved over 100 international guests and 500 local people. The late Dublin activist and Spanish civil war veteran Bob Doyle launched the first tournament four years ago.
Louise in NI 