Stereotype-smashing sportsmanship at FIFPRO awards
|Image: Angelica Ibarra Rodriguez
Toughness is a stereotype that goes hand in glove with any picture of men from Northern Ireland. ‘If someone hit you, you hit them back. You’re meant to be toughened up,’ player Colin Sharpe explains.
So finding yourself discussing men’s mental health—and specifically the traditional lack of discussion around it—with Northern Ireland players speaks volumes about the shift that’s currently underway both as a result of the Northern Ireland street soccer program’s integral work and much-needed wider societal raised awareness.
With conversations like that occurring in and around the team, it’s unsurprising the team was also named a recipient of the FIFPRO Fair Play Award for Day 6 . The Northern Ireland team was nominated after their opponents were shown a blue card—a temporary send-off.
Rather than capitalise on their numbers advantage to score more goals and close out the game, the Northern Ireland team elected to temporarily remove a player from the pitch, too, so the game and the contest remained the same.
That selfless move is indicative of the inclusive, emotionally intelligent way the team has been approaching the tournament.
The team comprises an evenly balanced mix of Protestants and Catholics as well as three players whose familial origins are other countries. It has been open and inclusive in its interactions, starting right from the moment it landed at the airport.
In presenting the team with their fair play medals and jerseys, Daniel Tyte commended on the Northern Ireland players on their conduct and drew parallels with Premier League football to illustrate how incredible their efforts were.
‘The FIFPRO Fair Play Award is given out every day to the team at the Homeless World Cup out of 38 nations who show the best spirit of the day.’ He reminded them that the Homeless World Cup is both a highly competitive football tournament, but it’s also about much more than match results. ‘Yesterday, out of everyone here, you were chosen by the referees as a fair play award winner … You won that for showing unbelievable fair play, when the team went down by a player. What you did was [incredible]. Would that happen in the [Premier League] football you watch?’ he asked rhetorically.
Northern Ireland will take on Ireland in its final match of the tournament on Saturday 28 September.
Words: Fiona Crawford
Images: Angelica Ibarra Rodriguez