“The ball is round, so everything can happen”
Image: HWC/Rebecca Corbett
David Silvdahl represented Sweden at the Homeless World Cup in Cardiff in 2019, we caught up with him at the Nordic Homeless Cup in Stockholm in May 2022.
David Silvdahl is a competitive player; he wants to win. But when the final whistle goes, the fight to win stops. Friendship is more important.
“I play very tough; I love it when it’s a tough fight on the field. You can be enemies on the field, but you always shake hands at the end, and you are friends again. That is what I have experienced every time I go to a tournament [with Gatans Lag]. It’s about friendship and sportsmanship.”
Gatans Lag is our national partner in Sweden, it means ‘Law of the Street’ and they use football to help people to reintegrate into society.
David explains, “Gatans Lag, it’s for everyone. Everyone can join, you don’t have to be good or anything. It’s a great team and a great friendship. To represent Sweden at tournaments like this. I’m proud of it.”
“I went to Cardiff, also with Gatans Lag, and represented Sweden. I think that was the best thing I’ve done. Now I’ve got a kid – my girlfriend had a kid – my first kid – so that’s also a huge experience. But after that it’s like my top three things in my life.”
When I ask David about his highlights from Cardiff, one moment comes to mind for him – an unexpected victory.
“In Cardiff we were playing against Denmark, before that game Denmark had always won against Sweden, but that time we took the game to penalties, and we won and we were so proud, we stormed the field as if we were crazy!”
However, returning from the Homeless World Cup wasn’t easy for David.
“I had a dip. I had a relapse. I went out and started that other life again. It went on for a year, then I took myself off and started all over again to quit the drugs.”
“I have tried to quit many, many times. I’ve been clean for ten months now. I want to stay clean now because I recently became a dad. It’s my first kid, I want to do everything for him. Keep living this life and give everything I’ve got to him.”
David’s struggles with addiction started when he was a child himself.
“I was 15 and from the beginning, for the first two or three months, I thought, I know this [alcohol] is going to be a huge problem for me in my life. And then I went on for 10-15 years and I started doing drugs as well. It was the only thing I did in my life. It was the only thing I wanted to do.”
“Every time it was all or nothing. I have no limit. From the beginning it was just everything. I wanted to take all of it.”
|Image: HWC/Rebecca Corbett
David explained he joined Gatans Lag after finishing a rehabilitation programme, to help him “live a clean life”.
“I always played football, I started when I was six. It’s that thing when I play football, I don’t think about anything else. Just play and shut off my brain and have fun. I love playing football.”
David explains in Sweden they have a phrase which translates as: “The ball is round, so everything can happen.”
Looking back to when he was deep in addiction, it’s probably safe to say David would never have predicted this. Representing Sweden at national and international tournaments. Best of all, it’s helped him to become the person he always wanted to be.
“I am myself again, I am the person I want to be, not a broken person with no life, because that’s no life to live. It’s tough, and you’re down, and you have to chase the drugs, and you have no money. It’s not good at all. The main thing is that I’m happy with myself, I don’t hate myself. No self-hating. I am happy with how things are. It’s simple but I am happy.”
“I am a simple man. I don’t like hard things. Life is hard enough. Especially when you’re doing that other stuff.”
David is determined that anyone, with the help of an organisation like Gatans Lag, can overcome addiction.
“If there is anyone struggling, there are always organisations like Gatans Lag, that want to help you out. Because everyone here I guess also came from addiction or hardship in their lives, if you want to get help you can overcome it also.”
And as he said, “the ball is round, so everything can happen.”
Gatans Lag is our national partner in Sweden, find out more about their work supporting people like David to overcome addiction, homelessness and social isolation and reintegrate into society.
Words: Rebecca Corbett