Football for Peace

The Afghan Premiere League Trophy

This weekend I had the opportunity to watch the final match of Afghanistan's first premiere league football live in Kabul's new football stadium. It took some cajoling and back and forth with my security to let me go. It seemed like all of Kabul's National Police were mobilized for this epic day as many high profile Afghan politicians like Abdullah Abdullah and representatives from the diplomatic corps were present at the event. 

Toofaan Harirod from Herat province and Simorgh Alborz from Mazar-e-Sharif Province competed in the final match of the season. Toofaan Harirod won beating Simorgh Alborz 2-1 in the tournament. 

First half of the match - Herat (Blue) Mazar-e-Sharif (Orange)

Entrance to the Stadium -Afghan National Police Cars lined up

The league came to fruition only this year. A total of 8 teams were created to compete in this inaugural league. The first season ran through September and October of 2012 and the Afghanistan Football Federation has confirmed that a second season will take place in 2013.

A reality television show called "Maidan-e-sabz" (Green Field) sourced the players, a concept that came together by the Afghanistan Football Federation and the Afghanistan-based Moby Group, which is the largest media group in the country and owns a number of TV channels and radio stations. Players were then voted by a jury and the television audience onto teams. 

I was very nervous as my car pulled into the Stadium. I had never seen so many Afghan National Police (ANP) in one place, so many guns, police cars and so many people bursting through the seams of the stadium.  There was a dust storm earlier in the morning followed by rain which had made the air clean and crisp. As I entered the stadium guided by several police escorts, I rapidly eased into the scene. The energy was very different around me, something I always hoped for, but never expected. Smiles on everyone's faces, babies, mothers, children, men, young men, old men, police. It was spectacular. The air of hostility I always encounter when I am out on the streets of kabul wasn't present. 

Shiny Happy People in the Stadium

Using sports as a tool for social cohesion and civil society strengthening could be the answer in this conflict torn nation as 65 percent of the population of Afghanistan is under 25 and this could potentially be a real opportunity to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan. 
The League  brought children, adults, afghan men, afghan women, expatriats, afghan government officials, diplomats and the afghan national police all together. I was suddenly sharing a space with all these different people that was not contaminated by the afghan history, by past hurts, past wars, past conflict, exploded bombs and guns used. It was a new space. A new language co-created by everyone in that stadium. A language of cohesion, team spirit, joy, celebration, sharing and love. It may have been a fleeting moment. But imagine what more fleeting moments of understanding and tolerance could do for reconciliation and peace Afghanistan. 

According to the Toltec legacies, 'Life is a fleeting moment. What an average man calls chance is in reality power. The only way to explain what power is, is to say that it is a fleeting moment of chance. 

This season of the Premiere League gave the afghan people power. I hope and pray that the people of afghanistan hold on to this moment very tightly...

Afghanistan's future...