“Football is life”
|Vitor da Silva Reis represented Germany at the Wroclaw Cup in Poland. Image: HWC/Rebecca Corbett
34-year-old Vitor da Silva Reis represented Germany at this year’s Wroclaw Cup in Poland. He’s been involved with our German partner Anstoß! e.V since 2011.
Vitor, known to his friends as ‘V’, from a young age has had many places and countries to call home.
He was born in Portugal, but after his parent’s relationship broke down, he moved to London to live with his aunt.
“I got taken away from my dad, without him really knowing. He thought I was coming back.
“My relationship with my mum was never good, that’s why I was sent to England. I did primary school in England, then did secondary school in Germany.”
Vitor’s mum had moved to Germany shortly after he went to England as a child to make a living.
“There was a lot of violence at home. From 14-17 I was in a place where I wasn’t with my parents. There were good people there, they helped me with my homework. Each week you would have different duties – first week you would do the dishes, second week the bins etc. They taught you how to be good with money. You’re a teenager you know, so they prepared you for life.”
At seventeen, Vitor went back to live with his mum, but it didn’t work out. He left home again and moved back to London where he went to college and got a job.
“I didn’t speak to my mum for years; I would just see her somewhere and all these emotions would come up and the trauma. As I got older, I started to deal with it and accepted that I can’t change it.”
there is Always football
However, regardless of the country he was in, Vitor would always play football.
“My first ball that I kicked was in primary school, Glastonbury Park in London. I scored. I was a natural talent. Then I played in Germany when I was 10 or 11. From then on, I went up, up, up until I wasn’t that consistent when I turned 17 because of problems at home.”
Despite getting a steady job after finishing college and working his way up while working at Gatwick Express, his life took a turn when he lost his passport.
“I kind of went sideways, I lost my passport and was homeless in London. Someone stole my passport; I don’t know what happened. It was just gone.”
When the Gatwick Express franchise was combined with Southern Railways in 2008, managers asked Vitor for his passport. When he couldn’t produce it, because it had been stolen, he lost his job. He had to leave the country and go back to his birth country, Portugal.
“[A while later] I came back to England to try and build things up again, but it was hard. If you don’t have somewhere to stay, in England they don’t have help. So, I was doing this night bus thing.”
For between two and three months, Vitor slept on London buses.
“Woo, it was hard. I’d be on night buses – front and back – and here and there. Get something to eat, see friends.”
Struggling in London, Vitor moved back to Germany to see his mother, but their relationship was still unstable. So, he spent a year living in shelters.
“After a year, I said ‘I can’t be doing this, I can’t be going from this shelter to that shelter. I need to settle somewhere.”
He found a local organisation who helped him to get somewhere to stay, find a job and pay any outstanding debts - when he was homeless, Vitor had built up penalty fees and fines from things like riding buses without paying.
“After five-six years, I left that place and got my own place. But while I was there, I got into a football project, a friend of mine said: ‘Do you want to come - you play well, and we need good players.’ So, I thought maybe I should start playing again.”
Every Wednesday, Vitor would go along and play football.
“From day one, the guy that was responsible for the project he was like V come often, I like your mentality, I like the way you control the players. It was a mess. There were fights, but when I got there, I helped to bring discipline. There were no more fights, and it was nice.”
vitor’s experience at the Homeless World Cup in Chile in 2014
After three years being involved with the programme, Vitor was offered the chance to go to Santiago in Chile and represent Germany at the Homeless World Cup.
“I’d never been to South America – the different culture and when I was there, I met people from all over the world. It’s beautiful, all these cultures, experiences – everyone is sharing.
“You’d meet people and hear about their problems and think, ‘bro, my problems ain’t nothing against that.’ You start to appreciate things a lot more. There was this kid from Cambodia, he was in child labour and had been rescued. When you hear these stories, you’re like wow.
“The support was crazy; it was even on TV and stuff. It was massive. There were South American people being like ‘picture, picture’, like you’re some kind of star.
“Going back, there’s the jet lag, and then you start reflecting and thinking, I could have prepared better. But we shared and we all appreciated the experience and today we share these moments. We laugh about certain situations.
“My mate said: ‘V, when we’re old and maybe in a wheelchair, we will still talk about this, no one can take these experiences from us.’
“From then many lives changed. A lot of people started going forward, getting jobs, I got my own apartment. From leaving this organisation, to getting your own apartment – to live your own life, paying your own bills.
“It’s all thanks to the guy who make it possible to go to these football tournaments. I’m very grateful. They realised as well, I was a proud person, I don’t like asking people for help, I realised that sometimes we need someone. Because without him I wouldn’t have my own apartment.”
Leading the next generation
Being one of the established members of the team, Victor now can play his part in inspiring the next generation of players.
“This team, they are new – they’re still learning. Getting used to the whole system. I’m just here to help. It’s nice, this was the first tournament after the selection.”
“Some of them are so skinny and agile and they run circles around you, and you’re frustrated, but at the end it’s all fun, a lot of fair play.”
Now Victor has a stable job and an apartment, he dreams of working in the travel and tourism industry again.
“I loved my job with Gatwick Express, I started as a train host – a ‘trolley dolly’ – I’d get loads of tips. Then you went up to train revenue and you could make a nice career. Maybe I’ll go back to that, but in Germany. I will take care of that when I get back, I’m not worried about it.”
When he’s not working, one thing is still at the centre of his life – football.
“Football is life – at least for me.”
Find out more about our German partner Anstoß! e.V.
Words: Rebecca Corbett
*Some quotes have been edited for clarity