Blog
Thirty Days, One Goal
As virtually everyone knows, the World Cup is here again, and I wanted
to pause
and reflect on it for a moment. The World Cup encapsulates why we
wanted
to use football for Peace in the first place.
It may be a cliché, but it’s true: Football is a universal language. As
I
travel around the world, I can walk into any setting and football can
bring us
together. I’ve visited orphanages in far-flung places where I could not
communicate at all with the children there. There is often an awkward
silence at first, where no one knows quite what to say or do. But as
soon
as I bring out a football, we begin to play – and then we are smiling,
laughing, and our personalities emerge. We are completely united in
that
moment.
That is why One Day One Goal exists: we can use this game to start the
interactions between people who can’t, or won’t, communicate. We can
build relationships through football that make people want to come back
to that
field, or street, or garden, to play together again.
The first World Cup was held in 1930, and now everybody knows about it –
it is
living proof of what it means to institutionalise an event. If you are
at
all inspired by the World Cup, then I urge you to sign up for One Day
One
Goal. It’s your chance to play football with, and for, the world.
Sign up today to organise a match and then get friends, children,
adults, and
the rest of your community involved.
You can begin buy completing the 3 steps to Peace One Day:
1. Decide what you will do to
make peace on September 21, at school, at home or in your local
community;
2. Log your Peace Day commitment at www.peaceoneday.org;
3. Tell others around the world and ask
them to complete the Three Steps to Peace One Day.
Thanks
In peace,
Jeremy Gilley
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