By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff reporter
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa is only a month away, but in prelude there was another fierce soccer match at the Son Gi-jeong Park in central Seoul, Thursday.
A goodwill match played by homeless people between the "Hope F.C." and the "Bridge Self-Support Soccer Team" heated the ground for one hour.
"I feel great when playing soccer," a homeless man, identified only as Kim, said after the game. "I couldn't deal with stress in the past so I drank a lot. But now, I rarely drink and instead, I play soccer as often as possible."
The two teams are from drop-in facilities for the homeless. Some 100 homeless people came to cheer the teams representing their centers.
There are five centers for homeless in Seoul - three near Seoul Station and two in Yeongdeungpo. The centers offer various programs and soccer is one of the most popular.
The Hope F.C. was established last month with some 20 homeless people at the "Stand Up Again" drop-in center and now has 30 players, mostly in their 30s and 40s. They play at Icheon Park near the Han River for three hours every Friday.
The Bridge team is from the "Bridge" drop-in center operated by the Salvation Army. It started as a small soccer club in 2006 and became an official club last month with 24 players.
According to an official from the Bridge Counseling Center, the homeless people are animated after playing a match.
"Many of the homeless love to play soccer, but they do not have a place to do it," the official said. "They mostly rent school grounds, but some schools are reluctant to allow the homeless use their properties."
A Seoul city official said the government was able to help the homeless regain self-respect and get along better with other members of the local communities through soccer, adding that this was as important as providing them with jobs and shelters.
"The soccer clubs are encouraging the homeless to support themselves. We will establish new soccer teams based on large drop-in centers and arrange goodwill matches between them," the official said.
Meanwhile, the Bridge team won the Thursday match 6-3. Regardless of the outcome, the homeless each experienced a ray of hope through the game.