Home Game by Mel Young and Peter Barr sampler

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home game
running a programme for excluded women in Sacramento, using
soccer to help them to transform their lives, just as she has also
turned her own life around. She loves the game of soccer and
has always dreamed of playing for her country. She is also in
love with the Homeless World Cup and excited to see what will
happen this year.
Coming in the opposite direction, 25- year- old Lukes Mjoka
hopes that this week in Mexico City will be another stepping
stone in his eventful life. Like Lisa, he made his début in Rio,
playing for South Africa. And like Lisa, he’s also a coach now.
His dream is to go back to Rio, where Pupo the manager of the
Brazil team has offered him work as a coach. It’s a long way
from the township in Cape Town when Lukes was a six- yearold
boy being squeezed in through broken car windows to steal
whatever he could get his six- year- old hands on. It’s also a long
way from running his neighbourhood drug- dealing ‘business’.
Now part of the coaching staff helping South Africa manager
Cliffy (Clifford Martinus), Lukes will have to persuade him and
Pupo that he is now ready to take on the challenge of moving
across the Atlantic to Rio.
Arkady Tyurin used to be homeless, like Lukes. He is flying
in from Russia, thinking this year will probably be his farewell
to the Homeless World Cup. He has been involved since 2003
when the tournament started, so this is the tenth year he’s managed
the team. Maybe it is time for someone else to take over.
Was the highlight when Russia won the trophy in Cape Town
in 2006? Perhaps. But the challenge continued. In Melbourne
in 2008, the team reached the final again, this time losing 5- 4 to
Afghanistan. This year, it’s another group of players, with their
individual battles and their individual hopes and desires.
‘Will I see you next year in Poland?’ I ask. And the look
in his eyes says that Arkady is already starting to have second
thoughts...