Shaab Stadium 19 December 17th 2008: Standing on the playing field of Iraq's Sha'ab National Stadium surrounded by young people from all the different communities of the capital, I was once again filled with hope. A few months ago these young men would have put their lives at risk by simply taking part in this game with youngsters from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. On this day - they stood with me as one nation - united on the famous field that all young Iraqis dream of playing on.
These young men represent a new chance for Iraq built upon a united effort. This is the new Iraq where divisions can be the things of the past and the feeling of playing together is greater than our individual differences. This is the new Iraq where we learn from our shared history and build the future together for ourselves.
FC Unity's 'Hope Tour', devised back in 2006, has come of age, breaking down barriers that divided our society through the power of this simple game. Young Iraqis of all backgrounds were united in the feeling of new hope for a return to normal life. As the two captains shook hands their smiles were genuine and there camaraderie lasted beyond the duration of this symbolic game.
The year of 2008 was eventful for me and for Iraq. I will never forget the smiles and laughter of the young players in Najaf and Baghdad. The project indicators were not just written on paper but were coming to life before my eyes in the transformed attitudes of Iraqi youth. This was the real benefit; creating a new chance for Iraqi youth to feel united in hope that will provide the productive motivation for the future.
What more can we do?
The answer is evident from our work in the field. We need to give young Iraqi men and women the chance to shape their own future and provide them with the opportunities to rebuild the country from the ground up. We need to empower them and provide the mentoring and motivation to create strong positive communities with responsible and able citizens and to instil in them the values necessary for a more sustainable future. We need to give them the life-skills to achieve the goals inherent in their individual potential.
This is not the time for promises to fail or for token gestures. This is a time for action. To build on what we have achieved and to empower the present generation and give young people the confidence through good authority and self-discipline to become the leaders of tomorrow. This human resource will secure the future of the Iraqi nation as an international community partner and as viable secular, pluralist, liberal democracy, where all citizens enjoy equal rights and equal opportunities.
To make our dream a reality will not be easy, but the first steps have been taken. United we can achieve our goals and create the biggest team in the world.
That unity is not just needed in Iraq but across diverse communities. How often have we self-segregated ourselves and allowed fear and stereotypes to keep us apart? To break down all barriers we continue our work in London, bringing diverse communities together, which is just as important. We cannot forget that in our effort to overcome extremism in the Middle East that hatred exists in our own neighbourhoods, because if left unchecked, extremism will spread just as rapidly at home. So to fight messages from extremist groups we build young people through football, building stronger communities through tolerance and understanding.
Are you on the team? I ask you to join us!
Yamam Nabeel – FC Unity – Founder and Chief Executive
As an individual who has lived in exile since the age of 3 and have been brought up in 3 different countries it would be hard for me to identify one specific place.
I would say that being on a football field in any given city or country in the world, I would feel a sense of belonging to something so much bigger.
I want to be able to support the empowerement of communities to be able to bring a long lasting positive change and thus be able to create prosperous societies.
In order to do that we need to re-focus the emphasis of both the private and public sector and bring about long-lasting ways of creating locally-led initiatives.
There needs to be an ethical way for business and government to operate and support societies through grass-roots projects for all sides to be able to learn from each other.
“Exile is the emptiness – for however much you brought
With you, there’s far more you left behind”
Paul Tabori.
Yamam Nabeel
Yamam Nabeel was born in Baghdad, Iraq. His parents, both distinguished academics were at the forefront of intellectual society. There followed numerous attempts by the Bathist regime to muzzle his father - one of the countries most outspoken and best loved Bards - the family fled Iraq. After 18 months living out of suitcases across the Middle East and Europe the family arrived in Hungary. Their first home in exile.
Yamam gained his early education in Hungary and attended primary and grammar schools at which he was the only foreign student. As a pupil, he excelled in history and literature. In 1986 he started playing school-boy football with enthusiasm. During the late 1980’s the velvet revolution swept through Hungary and Yamam was brutally assaulted by a gang of skinheads in broad daylight and left battered in the street. With attempts to silence his father by Saddam’s agents increasing and with racist agitation growing, Hungary felt less like home and the family decided to move to the UK.
For Yamam, the young exiled Iraqi teenager speaking Arabic, Hungarian, Russian, and German – learning English and adapting to life in London would be a challenge. This new internationalism inspired Yamam to write and his Hungarian essays are translated into Arabic and he was offered a deal making him a published author just after his 17th Birthday to critical acclaim. An avid learner, Yamam completed his A-Levels in politics, economics and history in one year to enter Bradford University to read Politics and History. Football still remained his passion.
By the age of 20 Yamam had started to work as a freelance producer for the Middle East Broadcasting Centre and became the sports correspondent for the Hungarian daily, BLIKK. At 21 he took a chance to produce reports for CNN, Sky News, Channel 4, ITN etc, with interviews and reports distributed worldwide. By 25, Yamam was producing and presenting his own show on Liberty TV, the television platform of the then Iraqi political opposition.
Just two weeks after the invasion of Iraq at the age of 27, Yamam was able to obtain an interview with Bernd Stange for Sky Sports. They had an instant click and found much common ground in their approach to peace-building and conflict resolution. An idea was born to bring the Iraq national football team for a UK tour. After nine months - in May 2004 - the Iraq national team was able to tour the UK and play three key games, including matches against Trinidad and Tobago, the England Select XI and the UK Parliamentary Football Team (PFC) comprised of MPs. Yamam was supported in this project by the British Government and the then England Manager, Mr Sven Goran Eriksson and his partner, Nancy Dell’Olio.
This was the start, after 2005 FC Unity was born with the aim to create a platform, together with private and public and volunteer sector partnerships, for education and development for young people around the world. Since 2007 FC Unity has been running ongoing programmes in Iraq and the UK.
