The first game on Friday was slow-paced, with white lines on the pitch unfinished. Spectators were seated on grass or on the terrace of a half-built home to get a decent view. But players and organizers described it as a first small step toward a normal life for those who escaped war and were left stranded on their journey to Europe. There was dancing and drums at half time, children on the sidelines shrieked at every turn of the game, and after 90 minutes, the game ended 1-1 for Hersos and Nea Kavala — teams that took their names from refugee camps near Greece’s northern border.
“This (helps us) forget the conditions inside the camp … In the camp you are under pressure. The game helps us make a little bit (of) fun with our friends,” Sherran Abdiy, a refugee from Aleppo, Syria and goalkeeper for Nea Kavala team.
The 21-year-old pharmacology student’s family home was destroyed in the civil war, and he traveled to Turkey and then Greece with his mother and 15-year-old brother. He hoped to make it to Switzerland and continue his studies. Instead he spends his days in a camp hastily set up by the Greek army and where authorities struggle to provide basic facilities.
There are 60,000 people in Greece like him, halted on the trip to Europe after countries closed borders in fear of being flood with refugees. Most of the stranded have seen little of their host country, since camps are generally located outside towns.
Reluctance by European Union countries to meet relocation commitments, or ignore them entirely, means migrants are looking for ways to settle.
Fahed Al Haboun, 22 and also from Aleppo, turned up Friday to cheer for Hersos. His 5-month-old daughter was born here.
“I’m glad to see this happening,” he said, speaking in broken English, standing at the side of the pitch still strewn with weeds. “I don’t have nothing to do (at the camp). I don’t have to do anything, just waiting for my interview (for relocation) all the time.”
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