Hassan is one of my workers from my now only job, and he's Iraqi, and he's the coach of the team. I've been trying to join their team for practices and scrimmages for a while now, only to be thwarted by their scheduling.
What's really cool, I think, is that Hassan is a former professional soccer player in Iraq, and played on the national team. He was on the Al Shorta squad that defeated the Iranian club in 1985 during a break in their eight-year war.
Hassan and I have been exchanging gifts for some time now, which initially struck me as odd, but now I don't think about because we're close.
On this Sunday, we were a touch late, and had to get suited up real quick, and it was around then that I realized what exactly was going on; Hassan needed me to join his refugee team, since that's exactly what he coaches.
Hassan Gateh is the coach of the Multicultural Refugee Coalition's soccer team. The MRC is an Austin non-profit organization that helps the world's refugees that make it to Austin get acclimated to America and Texas. It helps them into housing, helps them find work, and helps them get the proper paperwork done to legally work and eventually become citizens. Because of the global popularity of soccer, a team funded by the MRC (and others) seemed to be an appropriate outlet for the men.
On the team are Iraqis, Palestinians, Congolese, Sudanese, Eritreans, and even a Colombian. They play in the Austin Men's Soccer League, have proper jerseys, and play with the standard three refs. Sometimes, though, things can get ugly. Just the week before my visit three fights broke out, and three red-cards--and three suspensions--were issued. See why they needed me? Not that my skills would have helped, but just being a body out there would have been nice.
Since I wasn't on a long list that had been provided to the referee staff, I couldn't play. It was a new rule they had implemented within the last month. We were so close.
Hassan actually put on a jersey and joined the game at one point. I was later told that he was showing off for me. There were four slender guys from the Congo playing, three of them hadn't been on the team before but were on the list. Those guys were awesome in a league where "adequate" is a hair above average, and "not bad" is better than average.
The MRC boys took a 2-0 lead into halftime, when Hassan, his young friend Aymen, and another fellow named Abdullah had to leave for work. This led the team to be shorthanded the rest of the way, playing with only nine players, including the goalie. It was around here that the Congolese guys really turned up their harassment of the other team. They stole the ball so many times that the opposing players started cursing the ref, which got them into trouble. By the end, the opposition had imploded out of frustration, and not capitalizing on their opportunities doomed them.
The boys from the MRC held them off and savored their hard fought victory, even with no actual fights. Hassan had called me near the end to check on his players. I reported the lead was still secure, and with his knowledge of the time remaining, the relief in his voice as he thanked me for the info was palpable.
You can read about the MRC here. Here is a picture taken from that site of the team, Coach Hassan present on the left:
I can now say I saw Hassan Gateh play futbol, which is very cool.
Very cool... I was blown away at how great the players were when watching the games with Michael and Liz in Spokane, I learned lots about the game.. I can see why this is a game beloved by millions... sorry your couldn't play but maybe next time then you can say you not only saw Hassan Gateh play you PLAYED with Sassan Gateh how cool would that be??
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